Analysis of Prologue to Caesar Borgia
John Dryden 1631 (Aldwincle) – 1631 (London)
The unhappy man, who once has trailed a pen,
Lives not to please himself, but other men;
Is always drudging, wastes his life and blood,
Yet only eats and drinks what you think good.
What praise soe'er the poetry deserve,
Yet every fool can bid the poet starve.
That fumbling lecher to revenge is bent,
Because he thinks himself, or whore, is meant:
Name but a cuckold, all the city swarms;
From Leadenhall to Ludgate is in arms.
Were there no fear of Antichrist, or France,
In the best time poor poets live by chance.
Either you come not here, or, as you grace
Some old acquaintance, drop into the place,
Careless and qualmish with a yawning face:
You sleep o'er wit,—and by my troth you may;
Most of your talents lie another way.
You love to hear of some prodigious tale,
The bell that tolled alone, or Irish whale.
News is your food, and you enough provide,
Both for yourselves, and all the world beside.
One theatre there is, of vast resort,
Which whilome of Requests was called the Court;
But now the great exchange of news 'tis hight,
And full of hum and buzz from noon till night.
Up stairs and down you run, as for a race,
And each man wears three nations in his face.
So big you look, though claret you retrench,
That, armed with bottled ale, you huff the French.
But all your entertainment still is fed
By villains in our own dull island bred.
Would you return to us, we dare engage
To show you better rogues upon the stage.
You know no poison but plain ratsbane here;
Death's more refined, and better bred elsewhere.
They have a civil way in Italy,
By smelling a perfume to make you die;
A trick would make you lay your snuff-box by.
Murder's a trade, so known and practised there,
That 'tis infallible as is the chair.
But mark their feasts, you shall behold such pranks!
The Pope says grace, but 'tis the devil gives thanks.
Scheme | AABCDEFFGHIIJJJKKLLMMNNOOJJPPQQRRSTUVVTTWW |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 00101111101 1111011101 11111101 1101011111 111010001 11001110101 11001010111 0111011111 110110101 1111101 01111111 0011110111 1011111111 1101010101 100110101 11101011111 1111010101 1111110101 0111011101 1111010101 1101010101 1100111101 111011101 1101011111 0111011111 1101111101 0111110011 111111101 1111011101 111010111 11001011101 1101111101 1111010101 111101111 110101011 1101010100 1100011111 0111111111 10111011 1101001101 1111110111 01111101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,846 |
Words | 343 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 42 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,425 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 340 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:44 min read
- 84 Views
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"Prologue to Caesar Borgia" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22691/prologue-to-caesar-borgia>.
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