The Dancer

Edmund Waller 1606 (Coleshill) – 1687



Behold the brand of beauty tossed!
See how the motion does dilate the flame!
Delighted love his spoils does boast,
And triumph in this game.
Fire, to no place confined,
Is both our wonder and our fear;
Moving the mind,
As lightning hurled through air.

High heaven the glory does increase
Of all her shining lamps, this artful way;
The sun in figures, such as these,
Joys with the moon to play.
To the sweet strains they all advance,
Which do result from their own spheres,
As this nymph's dance
Moves with the numbers which she hears.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 27, 2023

30 sec read
116

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXABXBX XCXCDXDX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 527
Words 99
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 8

Edmund Waller

Edmund Waller, FRS was an English poet and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1624 and 1679. more…

All Edmund Waller poems | Edmund Waller Books

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