Analysis of Jordan
George Herbert 1593 (Montgomery) – 1633 (Bemerton)
Who says that fictions only and false hair
Become a verse? Is there in truth no beauty?
Is all good structure in a winding stair?
May no lines pass, except they do their duty
Not to a true, but painted chair?
Is it no verse, except enchanted groves
And sudden arbours shadow coarse-spun lines?
Must purling streams refresh a lover's loves?
Must all be veiled, while he that reads divines,
Catching the sense at two removes?
Shepherds are honest people: let them sing:
Riddle who list, for me, and pull for prime:
I envy no man's nightingale or spring;
Nor let them punish me with loss of rhyme,
Who plainly say, My God, My King.
Scheme | ABABA CXXCX DEDED |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1111010011 01011101110 1111000101 11110111110 11011101 1111010101 01011111 111010101 111111111 10011101 1011010111 1011110111 1101110011 1111011111 11011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 622 |
Words | 117 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 15 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 163 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 38 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 29, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 66 Views
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"Jordan" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15354/jordan>.
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