The Madman's Song

John Webster 1580 (London) – 1632 (London)



Oh, let us howl some heavy note,
Some deadly-dogged howl,
Sounding as from the threatening throat
Of beasts and fatal fowl!
As ravens, screech-owls, bulls, and bears,
We'll bell, and bawl our parts,
Till irksome noise have cloyed your ears
And corrosived your hearts.
At last, whenas our quire wants breath,
Our bodies being blest,
We'll sing like swans to welcome death,
And die in love and rest.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 09, 2023

21 sec read
335

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCDEDFGFG
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 396
Words 70
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 12

John Webster

John Webster was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, which are often regarded as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. His life and career overlapped William Shakespeare's. more…

All John Webster poems | John Webster Books

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