Analysis of Down, Wanton, Down!

Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)



Down, wanton, down! Have you no shame
That at the whisper of Love's name,
Or Beauty's, presto! up you raise
Your angry head and stand at gaze?

Poor bombard-captain, sworn to reach
The ravelin and effect a breach--
Indifferent what you storm or why,
So be that in the breach you die!

Love may be blind, but Love at least
Knows what is man and what mere beast;
Or Beauty wayward, but requires
More delicacy from her squires.

Tell me, my witless, whose one boast
Could be your staunchness at the post,
When were you made a man of parts
To think fine and profess the arts?

Will many-gifted Beauty come
Bowing to your bald rule of thumb,
Or Love swear loyalty to your crown?
Be gone, have done! Down, wanton, down!


Scheme AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH IIJJ
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 11011111 11010111 111111 11010111 10110111 0100101 01011111 11100111 11111111 11110111 110101010 110001010 11110111 1111101 10110111 11100101 11010101 10111111 111100111 11111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 717
Words 134
Sentences 10
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 109
Words per stanza (avg) 26
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 16, 2023

40 sec read
166

Robert Graves

Robert von Ranke Graves was an English poet, scholar/translator/writer of antiquity specializing in Classical Greece and Rome, novelist and soldier in World War One. more…

All Robert Graves poems | Robert Graves Books

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