Analysis of To Promise Is One Thing To Keep It, Another
La Fontaine 1621 (Château-Thierry, Champagne) – 1695 (Neuilly-sur-Seine, Île-de-France)
JOHN courts Perrette; but all in vain;
Love's sweetest oaths, and tears, and sighs
All potent spells her heart to gain
The ardent lover vainly tries:
Fruitless his arts to make her waver,
She will not grant the smallest favour:
A ruse our youth resolved to try
The cruel air to mollify:--
Holding his fingers ten outspread
To Perrette's gaze, and with no dread
"So often," said he, "can I prove,
"My sweet Perrette, how warm my love."
When lover's last avowals fail
To melt the maiden's coy suspicions
A lover's sign will oft prevail
To win the way to soft concessions:
Half won she takes the tempting bait;
Smiles on him, draws her lover nearer,
With heart no longer obdurate
She teaches him no more to fear her-
A pinch,--a kiss,--a kindling eye,--
Her melting glances,--nothing said.--
John ceases not his suit to ply
Till his first finger's debt is paid.
A second, third and fourth he gains,
Takes breath, and e'en a fifth maintains.
But who could long such contest wage?
Not I, although of fitting age,
Nor John himself, for here he stopped,
And further effort sudden dropped.
Perrette, whose appetite increased
just as her lover's vigour ceased,
In her fond reckoning defeated,
Considered she was greatly cheated--
If duty, well discharged, such blame
Deserve; for many a highborn dame
Would be content with such deceit.
But Perrette, as already told,
Out of her count, began to scold
And call poor John an arrant cheat
For promising and not performing.
John calmly listened to her storming,
And well content with work well done,
Thinking his laurels fairly won,
Cooly replied, on taking leave:
"No cause I see to fume and grieve;
"Or for such trifle to dispute;
"To promise and to execute
"Are not the same, be it confessed,
"Suffice it to have done one's best;
"With time I'll yet discharge what's due;
"Meanwhile, my sweet Perrette, adieu!"
Scheme | ABABCCDDEEFGHIHIECECDEDEJJKKEEEEEELLEEEEMMNNOOEEEEEE |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111101 11010101 11010111 01010101 101111010 11110101 011010111 0101110 1011011 1110111 11011111 1111111 110111 11011010 01011101 110111010 11110101 111101010 11110100 110111110 01010101 01010101 11011111 1111111 01010111 110110101 11111101 1111101 11011111 01010101 111001 1101011 001100010 010111010 11010111 01110011 11101101 1110101 11010111 01111101 110001010 110101010 01101111 10110101 1011101 11111101 11110101 1100110 11011101 01111111 11110111 111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,847 |
Words | 332 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 52 |
Lines Amount | 52 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,431 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 321 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:42 min read
- 78 Views
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"To Promise Is One Thing To Keep It, Another" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25389/to-promise-is-one-thing-to-keep-it%2C-another>.
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