Analysis of Prologue To Steele's Tender Husband
Joseph Addison 1672 (Milston) – 1719 (Holland House, London)
In the first rise and infancy of farce,
When fools were many, and when plays were scarce
The raw unpractis'd authors could, with ease,
A young and unexperienc'd audience please:
No single character had e'er been shown,
But the whole herd of fops was all their own;
Rich in originals, they set to view,
In every piece, a coxcomb that was new.
But now our British theatre can boast
Drolls of all kinds, a vast unthinking host!
Fruitful of folly and of vice, it shows
Cuckolds, and cits, and bawds, and pimps, and beaux;
Rough country knights are found of every shire;
Of every fashion gentle fops appear;
And punks of different characters we meet,
As frequent on the stage as in the pit.
Our modern wits are forc'd to pick and cull,
And here and there by chance glean up a fool:
Long ere they find the necessary spark,
They search the town, and beat about the Park,
To all his most frequented haunts resort,
Oft dog him to the ring, and oft to court;
As love of pleasure or of place invites;
And sometimes catch him taking snuff at White's
Howe'er, to do you right, the present age
Breeds very hopeful monsters for the stage;
That scorn the paths their dull forefather's trod,
And won't be blockheads in the common road.
Do but survey this crouded house tonight:
--Here's still encouragement for those that write.
Our author, to divert his friends to-day,
Stocks with variety of fools his play;
And that there may be something gay and new,
Two ladies-errant has expos'd to view;
The first a damsel, travel'd in romance;
The t'other more refin'd, she comes from France:
Rescue, like courteous knights, the nymph from danger,
And kindly treat, like well-bred men, the stranger.
Scheme | XXAABBCCDD XXXXXXXXEE FFGGHHXXII JJCCKKLL |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0011010011 1101001101 01110111 01011001 11010011011 1011111111 1001001111 0100101111 11101010011 1111010101 1011001111 101010101 11011111001 11001010101 01110010011 1101011001 10101111101 0101111101 111101001 1101010101 1111100101 1111010111 1111011101 0011110111 1011110101 1101010101 11011111 011100101 110111101 1101001111 10101011111 1101001111 0111110101 1101010111 0101010001 01101011111 101100101110 01011111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,644 |
Words | 299 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 10, 10, 8 |
Lines Amount | 38 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 326 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 74 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:33 min read
- 81 Views
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