Analysis of Epistle To A Friend, In Answer To Some Lines Exhorting The Author To Be Cheerful, And To Banish Care
George Gordon Lord Byron 1788 (London) – 1824 (Missolonghi, Aetolia)
'OH! banish care'--such ever be
The motto of thy revelry!
Perchance of mine, when wassail nights
Renew those riotous delights,
Wherewith the children of Despair
Lull the lone heart, and `banish care.'
But not in morn's reflecting hour,
When present, past, and future lower,
When all I loved is changed or gone,
Mock with such taunts the woes of one,
Whose every thought--but let them pass
Thou know'st I am not what I was.
But, above all, if thou wouldst hold
Place in a heart that ne'er was cold,
By all the powers that men revere,
By all unto thy bosom dear,
Thy joys below, thy hopes above,
Speak--speak of anything but love.
'Twere long to tell, and vain to hear,
The tale of one who scorns a tear;
And there is little in that tale
Which better bosoms would bewail.
But mine has suffer'd more than well
'Twould suit philosophy to tell.
I've seen my bride another's bride,--
Have seen her seated by his side,
Have seen the infant, which she bore,
Wear the sweet smile the mother wore,
When she and I in youth have smiled,
As fond and faultless as her child;
Have seen her eyes, in cold disdain,
Ask if I felt no secret pain
And I have acted well my part,
And made my cheek belie my heart,
Return'd the freezing glance she gave:
Yet felt the while that woman's slave;--
Have kiss'd, as if without design,
The babe which ought to have been mine,
And show'd, alas! in each caress
Time had not made me love the less.
But let this pass--I'll whine no more,
Nor seek again an eastern shore;
The world befits a busy brain,--
I'll hie me to its haunts again.
But if, in some succeeding year,
When Britain's May is in the sere,'
Thou hear'st of one whose deepening crimes
Suit with the sablest of the times,
Of one, whom love nor pity sways,
Nor hope of fame, nor good men's praise;
One, who in stern ambition's pride,
Perchance not blood shall turn aside;
One rank'd in some recording page
With the worst anarchs of the age,
Him wile thou know--and knowing pause,
Nor with the effect forget the cause.
Newstead Abbey, Oct. 11, 1811.
Scheme | AABBCCDDXXXEFFGGHH XCIIJJKKLLMMNNOOPPQQRR LLNXGGSSTTKKUUXE X |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011101 01011100 0111111 01110001 1010101 1011011 110101010 110101010 11111111 11110111 110011111 111111111 10111111 10011111 110101101 11101101 11011101 1111011 11110111 01111101 01110011 110111 11110111 11010011 11110101 11010111 11010111 10110101 11010111 1101101 11010101 11111101 01110111 01110111 01010111 11011101 11110101 01111111 01010101 11111101 11111111 11011101 01010101 11111101 11010101 11011001 1111111001 1101101 11111101 11111111 110111 01111101 11010101 1011101 11110101 110010101 1101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,990 |
Words | 383 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 18, 22, 16, 1 |
Lines Amount | 57 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 387 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 94 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:59 min read
- 126 Views
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"Epistle To A Friend, In Answer To Some Lines Exhorting The Author To Be Cheerful, And To Banish Care" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15083/epistle-to-a-friend%2C-in-answer-to-some-lines-exhorting-the-author-to-be-cheerful%2C-and-to-banish-care>.
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