Analysis of The Forfeiture
Henry King 1592 (Worminghall, Buckinghamshire) – 1669 (Chichester)
My Dearest, To let you or the world know
What Debt of service I do truly ow
To your unpattern'd self, were to require
A language onely form'd in the desire
Of him that writes. It is the common fate,
Of greatest duties to evaporate
In silent meaning, as we often see
Fires by their too much fuel smother'd be:
Small Obligations may find vent and speak,
When greater the unable debtor break.
And such are mine to you, whose favours store,
Hath made me poorer then I was before;
For I want words and language to declare
How strict my Bond or large your bounties are.
Since nothing in my desp'rate fortune found,
Can payment make, nor yet the summe compound
You must lose all, or else of force accept
The body of a Bankrupt for your debt.
Then Love, your Bond to Execution sue,
And take my self, as forfeited to you.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEFGGHIJJKLMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) Etheree (20%) |
Metre | 1101111011 1111011101 11110110 0101100010 1111110101 110101010 0101011101 10111110101 101011101 1100010101 011111111 1111011101 1111010101 1111111101 110011101 1101110110 1111111101 0101010111 111110101 0111110011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 820 |
Words | 156 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 20 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 635 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 154 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 75 Views
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"The Forfeiture" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17673/the-forfeiture>.
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