Analysis of On the Death of Stephen Grey, F.R.S.
Samuel Johnson 1709 (Lichfield) – 1784 (London)
Long hast thou borne the burden of the day,
Thy task is ended, venerable Grey!
No more shall art thy dexterous hand require,
To break the sleep of elemental fire:
To rouse the powers that actuate Nature's frame,
The momentaneous shock, th' electric flame;
The flame, which at first, weak pupil of thy lore,
I saw, condemn'd, alas! to see no more.
Now, hoary sage, pursue thy happy flight
With swifter motion, haste to purer light.
Where Bacon waits with Newton and with Boyle,
To hail thy genius and applaud thy toil,
Where intuition breathes through time and space,
And mocks experiment's successive race;
See tardy science toil at Nature's laws,
And wonders how th' effect obscures the cause.
Yet not to deep research or happy guess
Is view'd the life of hope, the death of peace;
Unbless'd the man, whom philosophic rage
Shall tempt to lose the Christian in the sage;
Not art but goodness pour'd the sacred ray
That cheer'd the parting hours of humble Grey.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGGHIJKLLAA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111010101 1111010001 111111110 1101101010 11010111101 011110101 01111110111 1101011111 1101011101 1101011101 1101110011 1111000111 101011101 0101000101 1101011101 010111010101 1111011101 1101110111 10110101 1111010001 1111010101 11010101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 962 |
Words | 172 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 22 |
Lines Amount | 22 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 753 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 168 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 54 sec read
- 90 Views
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"On the Death of Stephen Grey, F.R.S." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34190/on-the-death-of-stephen-grey%2C-f.r.s.>.
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