Analysis of Epitaph on the Monument of a Fair Maiden Lady, Who Died at Bath, and is There Interred
John Dryden 1631 (Aldwincle) – 1631 (London)
Below this marble monument is laid
All that heaven wants of this celestial maid.
Preserve, O sacred tomb, thy trust consigned;
The mould was made on purpose for the mind:
And she would lose, if, at the latter day,
One atom could be mixed with other clay;
Such were the features of her heavenly face,
Her limbs were formed with such harmonious grace:
So faultless was the frame, as if the whole
Had been an emanation of the soul;
Which her own inward symmetry revealed,
And like a picture shone, in glass annealed;
Or like the sun eclipsed, with shaded light;
Too piercing, else, to be sustained by sight.
Each thought was visible that rolled within;
As through a crystal case the figured hours are seen.
And heaven did this transparent veil provide,
Because she had no guilty thoughts to hide.
All white, a virgin-saint, she sought the skies,
For marriage, though it sullies not, it dyes.
High though her wit, yet humble was her mind;
As if she could not, or she would not find
How much her worth transcended all her kind.
Yet she had learned so much of heaven below,
That when arrived, she scarce had more to know;
But only to refresh the former hint,
And read her Maker in a fairer print.
So pious, that she had no time to spare
For human thoughts, but seemed confined to prayer;
Yet in such charities she passed the day,
'Twas wondrous how she found an hour to pray.
A soul so calm, it knew not ebbs or flows,
Which passion could but curl, not discompose.
A female softness, with a manly mind;
A daughter duteous, and a sister kind;
In sickness patient, and in death resigned.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFAGGHIJJKKBBBLLMMNNCCODBBB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0111010011 11101110101 0111011101 0111110101 0111110101 1101111101 10010101001 01011101001 111011101 111010101 1011010001 010101011 1101011101 1101110111 1111001101 1101010101011 01011010101 0111110111 1101011101 110111111 1101110101 1111111111 1101010101 11111111001 1101111111 1101010101 0101000101 1101111111 1101110111 1011001101 11011111011 0111111111 11011111 011010101 010100101 0101000101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,587 |
Words | 291 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 36 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,234 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 289 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:27 min read
- 36 Views
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"Epitaph on the Monument of a Fair Maiden Lady, Who Died at Bath, and is There Interred" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22662/epitaph-on-the-monument-of-a-fair-maiden-lady%2C-who-died-at-bath%2C-and-is-there-interred>.
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