Analysis of Sonnet: On A Stolen Kiss

George Wither 1588 (Bentworth) – 1667



Now gentle sleep hath closèd up those eyes,
Which waking kept my boldest thoughts in awe,
And free access unto that sweet lip lies
From whence I long the rosy breath to draw.
Methinks no wrong it were if I should steal,
From those two melting rubies, one poor kiss.
None sees the theft that would the thief reveal,
Nor rob I her of aught which she can miss.
Nay, should I twenty kisses take away,
There would be little sign I had done so.
Why then should I this robbery delay?
Oh, she may wake, and therewith angry grow.
Well, if she do, I'll back restore that one,
And twenty hundred thousand more for loan.


Scheme ABACDEDEFGFGHI
Poetic Form
Metre 1101111111 1101110101 011101111 1111010111 111101111 1111010111 1101110101 1110111111 1111010101 1111011111 1111110001 111101101 1111110111 0101010111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 604
Words 118
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 472
Words per stanza (avg) 116
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
71

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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