Analysis of A silly sylvan, kissing heav'n-born fire

John Wilbye 1574 (Diss) – 1638 (Colchester)



A silly sylvan, kissing heav'n-born fire,
Scorched his lips for his so fond desire:
I, not so fond, but gaz'd whilst such fire burned,
And all my heart straight into flames was turned.
The sylvan justly suffer'd for his kiss,
His fire was stol'n and stol'n things go amiss;
But I, alas! unjstly for to have her,
Her heav'nly fire the gods and graces gave her.


Scheme AABBCCAA
Poetic Form
Metre 01010101110 1111111010 11111111101 0111101111 0101010111 1101110111101 110111110 01100101010
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 361
Words 68
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 8
Lines Amount 8
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 274
Words per stanza (avg) 66
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

22 sec read
119

John Wilbye

John Wilbye (baptized 7 March 1574 – September 1638) was an English madrigal composer. more…

All John Wilbye poems | John Wilbye Books

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