Analysis of Prologue Spoken the First Day of the King's House Acting After the Fire
John Dryden 1631 (Aldwincle) – 1631 (London)
So shipwracked passengers escape to land,
So look they, when on the bare beach they stand,
Dropping and cold, and their first fear scarce o'er,
Expecting famine on a desert shore.
From that hard climate we must wait for bread,
Whence even the natives, forced by hunger, fled.
Our stage does human chance present to view,
But ne'er before was seen so sadly true:
You are changed too, and your pretence to see
Is but a nobler name for charity.
Your own provisions furnish out our feasts,
While you, the founders, make yourselves the guests.
Of all mankind beside, fate had some care,
But for poor Wit no portion did prepare,
'Tis left a rent-charge to the brave and fair.
You cherished it, and now its fall you mourn,
Which blind unmannered zealots make their scorn,
Who think that fire a judgment on the stage,
Which spared not temples in its furious rage.
But as our new-built city rises higher,
So from old theatres may new aspire,
Since fate contrives magnificence by fire.
Our great metropolis does far surpass
Whate'er is now, and equals all that was:
Our wit as far does foreign wit excel,
And, like a king, should in a palace dwell.
But we with golden hopes are vainly fed
Talk high, and entertain you in a shed:
Your presence here, for which we humbly sue
Will grace old theatres, and build up new.
Scheme | AABCDDEEFFGHIIIJJKKBLBMNOODDEE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 111000111 1111101111 10010111110 0101010101 1111011111 11001011101 10111011011 1101111101 111101111 1101011100 11010101101 1101010101 1111011111 1111110101 1101110101 1101011111 11110111 11110010101 11110011001 111011101010 1111001101 1111110 10101001101 1011010111 10111110101 0101100101 1111011101 110011001 1101111101 1111000111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,313 |
Words | 238 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 30 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,023 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 236 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 38 Views
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"Prologue Spoken the First Day of the King's House Acting After the Fire" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22689/prologue-spoken-the-first-day-of-the-king%27s-house-acting-after-the-fire>.
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