Analysis of From A Satire Written To King James I

George Wither 1588 (Bentworth) – 1667



Did I not know a great man's power and might
In spite of innocence can smother right,
Colour his villainies to get esteem,
And make the honest man the villain seem?
I know it, and the world doth know 'tis true,
Yet I protest if such a man I knew,
That might my country prejudice or thee
Were he the greatest or the proudest he,
That breathes this day; if so it might be found
That any good to either might redound,
I unappalled, dare in such a case
Rip up his foulest crimes before his face,
Though for my labour I were sure to drop
Into the mouth of ruin without hope.


Scheme AABBCCDDEEFFGH
Poetic Form
Metre 11110111001 0111001101 1111101 0101010101 1110011111 111110111 1111010011 0101010101 1111111111 1101110101 1110101 111110111 111110111 0101110011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 564
Words 115
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 443
Words per stanza (avg) 113
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
94

George Wither

George Wither was an English poet, pamphleteer, and satirist. He was a prolific writer who adopted a deliberate plainness of style; he was several times imprisoned. C. V. Wedgwood wrote "every so often in the barren acres of his verse is a stretch enlivened by real wit and observation, or fired with a sudden intensity of feeling". more…

All George Wither poems | George Wither Books

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