Analysis of To Chloe Jealous
Matthew Prior 1664 – 1721
Dear Chloe, how blubber'd is that pretty face;
Thy cheek all on fire, and thy hair all uncurl'd:
Prythee quit this caprice; and (as old Falstaff says)
Let us e'en talk a little like folks of this world.
How canst thou presume, thou hast leave to destroy
The beauties, which Venus but lent to thy keeping?
Those looks were design'd to inspire love and joy:
More ord'nary eyes may serve people for weeping.
To be vext at a trifle or two that I writ,
Your judgment at once, and my passion you wrong:
You take that for fact, which will scarce be found wit:
Odds life! must one swear to the truth of a song?
What I speak, my fair Chloe, and what I write, shows
The diff'rence there is betwixt nature and art:
I court others in verse; but I love thee in prose:
And they have my whimsies, but thou hast my heart.
The god of us verse-men (you know, child) the Sun,
How after his journeys he sets up his rest:
If at morning o'er earth 'tis his fancy to run;
At night he declines on his Thetis's breast.
So when I am wearied with wand'ring all day,
To thee my delight in the evening I come:
No matter what beauties I saw in my way;
They were but my visits, but thou art my home.
Then finish, dear Chloe, this pastoral war;
And let us like Horace and Lydia agree:
For thou art a girl as much brighter than her,
As he was a poet sublimer than me.
Scheme | XAXA BCBC ADAD EAEA FAFA AXXX XGXG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (86%) |
Metre | 1101111101 11111001111 1110101111 1111101011111 11101111101 010110111110 11001101101 111011110110 111101011111 11011011011 11111111111 11111101101 111111001111 0111011001 111001111101 0111111111 01111111101 11011011111 1110101111011 111011111 11111011111 11101001011 11011011011 10111011111 11011011001 011110010001 11101111010 111010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,315 |
Words | 264 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 145 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 37 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:21 min read
- 71 Views
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"To Chloe Jealous" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/27467/to-chloe-jealous>.
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