Analysis of The Fair Felon

James Shirley 1596 (London) – 1666 (London)



In Love's name you are charged hereby
To make a speedy hue and cry,
After a face, who t'other day,
Came and stole my heart away;
For your directions in brief
These are best marks to know the thief:
Her hair a net of beams would prove,
Strong enough to capture Jove,
Playing the eagle; her clear brow
Is a comely field of snow.
A sparkling eye, so pure a gray
As when it shines it needs no day.
Ivory dwelleth on her nose;
Lilies, married to the rose,
Have made her cheek the nuptial bed;
Her lips betray their virgin red,
As they only blushed for this,
That they one another kiss.
But observe, beside the rest,
You shall know this felon best
By her tongue; for if your ear
Shall know this felon best
By her tongue; for if your ear
Shall once a heavenly music hear,
Such as neither gods nor men
But from that voice shall hear again,
That, that is she, oh, take her t'ye,
None can rock heaven asleep but she.


Scheme aabbccdcefbbgghhiijjKjKkllmm
Poetic Form
Metre 01111101 11010101 100111101 1011101 1101001 11111101 01011111 1011101 10010011 1010111 01011101 11111111 1001101 1010101 11010101 01011101 1110111 1110101 1010101 1111101 1011111 111101 1011111 110100101 1110111 11111101 111111011 111100111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 914
Words 179
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 28
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 698
Words per stanza (avg) 177
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

54 sec read
27

James Shirley

James Shirley (or Sherley) was an English dramatist. He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Charles Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so much for any transcendent genius in himself, as that he was the last of a great race, all of whom spoke nearly the same language and had a set of moral feelings and notions in common." His career of play writing extended from 1625 to the suppression of stage plays by Parliament in 1642. more…

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