Analysis of An Ode To Mr. Howard
Matthew Prior 1664 – 1721
Dear Howard, from the soft assaults of love
Poets and painters never are secure;
Can I untouch'd the fair one's passions move,
Or thou draw beauty, and not feel its power?
To great Appelles when young Ammon brought
The darling idol of his captive heart;
And the pleased nymph with kind attention sat,
To have her charms recorded by his art:
The amorous master own'd her potent eyes:
Sigh'd when he look'd, and trembled as he drew:
Each flowing line confirm'd his first surprise,
And, as the piece advanced, the passion grew.
While Philip's son, while Venus' son, was near,
What different tortures does his bosom feel?
Great was the rival, and the god severe:
Nor could he hide his flame, nor durst reveal.
The prince, renown'd in bounty as in arms,
With pity saw the ill-conceal'd distress;
Quitted his title to Campaspe's charms,
And gave the fair one to the friend's embrace.
Thus the more beauteous Cloe sat to thee,
Good Howard, emulous of the Grecian art:
But happy thou, from Cupid's arrow free,
And flames that pierced thy predecessor's heart!
Had thy poor breast received an equal pain;
Had I been vested with the monarch's power;
Thou must have sigh'd, unlucky youth, in vain;
Nor from my bounty hadst thou found a cure.
Though, to convince thee that the friend did feel
A kind concern for thy ill-fated care,
I would have sooth'd thy flame I could not heal;
Given thee the world; though I withheld the fair.
Scheme | XAXB XCXC DEDE FGFG HXHX ICIC JBJA GKGK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (63%) |
Metre | 1101010111 1001010101 1101011101 11110011110 11111101 0101011101 0011110101 1101010111 01001010101 1111010111 1101011101 0101010101 1101110111 11001011101 1101000101 1111111101 0101010101 1101010101 1110111 0101110101 10111111 110110101 110111101 011111001 1111011101 1111010110 1111010101 1111011101 1101110111 0101111101 1111111111 10101110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,394 |
Words | 252 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 138 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:20 min read
- 72 Views
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"An Ode To Mr. Howard" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/27335/an-ode-to-mr.-howard>.
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