Analysis of Sappho's Song
John Lyly 1553 (Canterbury) – 1606 (London)
O cruel Love, on thee I lay
My curse, which shall strike blind the day ;
Never may sleep with velvet hand
Charm thine eyes with sacred wand ;
Thy jailors shall be hopes and fears ;
Thy prison-mates groans, sighs, and tears ;
Thy play to wear out weary times,
Fantastic passions, vows, and rimes ;
Thy bread be frowns ; thy drink be gall,
Such as when you Phao call ;
The bed thou liest on be despair,
Thy sleep fond dreams, thy dreams long care ;
Hope, like thy fool, at thy bed's head,
Mock thee, till madness strike thee dead,
As, Phao, thou dost me with thy proud eyes ;
In thee poor Sappho lives, for thee she dies.
Scheme | AABCDEFFGGHHIIJJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011111 11111101 10111101 1111101 1111101 11011101 11111101 01010101 11111111 111111 01111101 11111111 11111111 11110111 111111111 011111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 627 |
Words | 116 |
Sentences | 2 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 467 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 123 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 148 Views
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