Analysis of Prologue to the Prophetess, by Beaumont and Fletcher. Revived by Dryden. Spoken by Mr. Betterton
John Dryden 1631 (Aldwincle) – 1631 (London)
What Nostradame, with all his art, can guess
The fate of our approaching Prophetess?
A play, which, like a prospective set right,
Presents our vast expenses close to sight;
But turn the tube, and there we sadly view
Our distant gains, and those uncertain too;
A sweeping tax, which on ourselves we raise,
And all, like you, in hopes of better days.
When will our losses warn us to be wise?
Our wealth decreases, and our charges rise.
Money, the sweet allurer of our hopes,
Ebbs out in oceans, and comes in by drops.
We raise new objects to provoke delight,
But you grow sated ere the second sight.
False men, even so you serve your mistresses;
They rise three stories in their towering dress;
And, after all, you love not long enough
To pay the rigging, ere you leave them off.
Never content with what you had before,
But true to change, and Englishmen all o'er.
Now honour calls you hence; and all your care
Is to provide the horrid pomp of war.
In plume and scarf, jack-boots, and Bilbo blade,
Your silver goes, that should support our trade.
Go, unkind heroes! leave our stage to mourn,
Till rich from vanquished rebels you return;
And the fat spoils of Teague in triumph draw,
His firkin butter, and his usquebaugh.
Go, conquerors of your male and female foes;
Men without hearts, and women without hose.
Each bring his love a Bogland captive home;
Such proper pages will long trains become;
With copper collars, and with brawny backs,
Quite to put down the fashion of our blacks.
Then shall the pious Muses pay their vows,
And furnish all their laurels for your brows;
Their tuneful voice shall raise for your delights;
We want not poets fit to sing your flights.
But you, bright beauties, for whose only sake
Those doughty knights such dangers undertake,
When they with happy gales are gone away,
With your propitious presence grace our play,
And with a sigh their empty seats survey;
Then think,—On that bare bench my servant sat!
I see him ogle still, and hear him chat;
Selling facetious bargains, and propounding
That witty recreation, called dumb-founding.
Their loss with patience we will try to bear,
And would do more, to see you often here;
That our dead stage, revived by your fair eyes,
Under a female regency may rise.
Scheme | ABCCDDEEFFGHCCIAJKLMNLOOPQRSTTUVWWXXYYZZ1 1 1 2 2 Z3 N4 FF |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111111 01110010100 0111001011 10101010111 1101011101 10101010101 01011100111 0111011101 11101011111 101010010101 100111101 1101001011 1111010101 1111010101 11101111100 11110011001 0101111101 1101011111 1010111101 1111010110 111110111 1101010111 010111011 11011101101 10110110111 1111010101 0011110101 1110011 1100111011 1011010011 111101101 1101011101 1101001101 11110101101 1101010111 0101110111 1101111101 1111011111 1111011101 110111010 1111011101 11010101101 0101110101 1111111101 1111010111 100101001 1100101110 1111011111 0111111101 11011011111 100110011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,246 |
Words | 399 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 51 |
Lines Amount | 51 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,757 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 396 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:00 min read
- 55 Views
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"Prologue to the Prophetess, by Beaumont and Fletcher. Revived by Dryden. Spoken by Mr. Betterton" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22695/prologue-to-the-prophetess%2C-by-beaumont-and-fletcher.-revived-by-dryden.-spoken-by-mr.-betterton>.
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