Analysis of Prologue To Mallet's Mustapha
James Thomson 1700 (Port Glasgow) – 1748 (London)
Since Athens first began to draw mankind,
To picture life, and show the impassion'd mind;
The truly wise have ever deem'd the stage
The moral school of each enlighten'd age.
There, in full pomp, the tragic Muse appears,
Queen of soft sorrows, and of useful fears.
Faint is the lesson reason's rules impart:
She pours it strong, and instant through the heart.
If virtue is her theme, we sudden glow
With generous flame; and what we feel, we grow.
If vice she paints, indignant passions rise;
The villain sees himself with loathing eyes.
His soul starts, conscious, at another's groan,
And the pale tyrant trembles on his throne.
To-night, our meaning scene attempts to show
What fell events from dark suspicion flow;
Chief when it taints a lawless monarch's mind,
To the false herd of flattering slaves confined.
The soul sinks gradual to so dire a state;
E'en excellence but serves to feed its hate:
To hate remorseless cruelty succeeds,
And every worth, and every virtue bleeds.
Behold, our author at your bar appears,
His modest hopes depress'd by conscious fears.
Faults he has many—but to balance those,
His verse with heart-felt love of virtue glows:
All slighter errors let indulgence spare,
And be his equal trial full and fair.
For this best British privilege we call,
Then—as he merits, let him stand or fall.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGGEEAAHHIICCJJKKLL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1101011111 11010100101 0101110101 0101110101 1011010101 1111001101 110101101 1111010101 1101011101 11001011111 1111010101 0101011101 1111010101 001101111 11101010111 1101110101 111101011 10111100101 01110011101 11100111111 110101001 010010100101 01101011101 1101011101 1111011101 1111111101 111010101 0111010101 111101011 1111011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,330 |
Words | 227 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 30 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,040 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 225 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:10 min read
- 38 Views
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"Prologue To Mallet's Mustapha" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20597/prologue-to-mallet%27s-mustapha>.
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