Analysis of Sephestia's Lullaby

Robert Greene 1558 (Tombland) – 1592 (London)



WEEP not, my wanton, smile upon my knee;
When thou art old there 's grief enough for thee.
   Mother's wag, pretty boy,
   Father's sorrow, father's joy;
   When thy father first did see
   Such a boy by him and me,
   He was glad, I was woe;
   Fortune changed made him so,
   When he left his pretty boy,
   Last his sorrow, first his joy.
Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee;
When thou art old there 's grief enough for thee.
   Streaming tears that never stint,
   Like pearl-drops from a flint,
   Fell by course from his eyes,
   That one another's place supplies;
   Thus he grieved in every part,
   Tears of blood fell from his heart,
   When he left his pretty boy,
   Father's sorrow, father's joy.
Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee;
When thou art old there 's grief enough for thee.
   The wanton smiled, father wept,
   Mother cried, baby leapt;
   More he crow'd, more we cried,
   Nature could not sorrow hide:
   He must go, he must kiss
   Child and mother, baby bliss,
   For he left his pretty boy,
   Father's sorrow, father's joy.
Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee,
When thou art old there 's grief enough for thee.


Scheme AAbBaaccBbAAddeeffBBAAgghhiibBAA
Poetic Form
Metre 1111010111 11111110111 101101 1010101 1110111 1011101 111111 101111 1111101 1110111 1111010111 11111110111 1011101 111101 111111 11010101 11101001 1111111 1111101 1010101 1111010111 11111110111 0101101 101101 111111 1011101 111111 1010101 1111101 1010101 1111010111 11111110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,160
Words 203
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 32
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 817
Words per stanza (avg) 201
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:03 min read
36

Robert Greene

Robert Greene was an English author popular in his day, and now best known for a posthumous pamphlet attributed to him, Greene's Groats-Worth of Witte, bought with a million of Repentance, widely believed to contain an attack on William Shakespeare. more…

All Robert Greene poems | Robert Greene Books

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