Analysis of Ardelia to Melancholy
Anne Kingsmill Finch 1661 – 1720 (Westminster)
At last, my old inveterate foe,
No opposition shalt thou know.
Since I by struggling, can obtain
Nothing, but encrease of pain,
I will att last, no more do soe,
Tho' I confesse, I have apply'd
Sweet mirth, and musick, and have try'd
A thousand other arts beside,
To drive thee from my darken'd breast,
Thou, who hast banish'd all my rest.
But, though sometimes, a short repreive they gave,
Unable they, and far too weak, to save;
All arts to quell, did but augment thy force,
As rivers check'd, break with a wilder course.
Freindship, I to my heart have laid,
Freindship, th' applauded sov'rain aid,
And thought that charm so strong wou'd prove,
As to compell thee, to remove;
And to myself, I boasting said,
Now I a conqu'rer sure shall be,
The end of all my conflicts, see,
And noble tryumph, wait on me;
My dusky, sullen foe, will sure
N'er this united charge endure.
But leaning on this reed, ev'n whilst I spoke
It peirc'd my hand, and into peices broke.
Still, some new object, or new int'rest came
And loos'd the bonds, and quite disolv'd the claim.
These failing, I invok'd a Muse,
And Poetry wou'd often use,
To guard me from thy Tyrant pow'r;
And to oppose thee ev'ry hour
New troops of fancy's, did I chuse.
Alas! in vain, for all agree
To yeild me Captive up to thee,
And heav'n, alone, can sett me free.
Thou, through my life, wilt with me goe,
And make ye passage, sad, and slow.
All, that cou'd ere thy ill gott rule, invade,
Their uselesse arms, before thy feet have laid;
The Fort is thine, now ruin'd, all within,
Whilst by decays without, thy Conquest too, is seen.
Scheme | AABBCDDDDDEECC DDFFDGCGHHIIJJ CCXXCGGGAADDXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111101001 1010111 111100101 101111 11111111 111111 11010011 01010101 11111101 11110111 110101111 0101011111 1111110111 1101110101 1111111 11101011 01111111 1111101 0111101 1101111 01111011 0101111 1110111 101010101 11011111111 111100111 111101111 010101101 11010101 01001101 111111011 01011110 1111111 01011101 11110111 01011111 11111111 01110101 1111111101 111011111 0111110101 110101110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,557 |
Words | 294 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 14, 14, 14 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 397 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 97 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 1:34 min read
- 109 Views
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"Ardelia to Melancholy" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/3249/ardelia-to-melancholy>.
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