Analysis of The Vanity of Wealth
Samuel Johnson 1709 (Lichfield) – 1784 (London)
No more thus brooding o'er yon heap,
With avarice painful vigils keep:
Still unenjoy'd the present store,
Still endless sighs are breathed for more.
O! quit the shadow, catch the prize,
Which not all India's treasure buys!
To purchase with heaven has gold the power?
Can gold remove the mortal hour?
In life can love be bought with gold?
Are friendship's pleasures to be sold?
No! - all that's worth a wish - a thought,
Fair virtue gives unbribed, unbought,
Cease then on trash thy hopes to bind,
Let noble views engage thy mind.
With science tread the wondrous way,
Or learn the Muses' moral lay;
In social hours indulge thy soul,
Where mirth and temperance mix the bowl;
To virtuous love resign thy breast,
And be, by blessing beauty, - bless'd.
Thus taste the feast by Nature spread,
Ere youth and all its joys are fled;
Come taste with me the balm of life,
Secure from pomp, and wealth, and strife.
I boast whate'er for man was meant,
In health, and Stella, and content;
And scorn! (oh! let that scorn be thine!)
Mere things of clay, that dig the mine.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFEGGHHIIJJKKLLMMNN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111101011 110010101 110101 11011111 1101101 111100101 11011011010 110101010 01111111 1110111 11110101 110111 11111111 11010111 11010101 11010101 010100111 110100101 110010111 01110101 11011101 11011111 11110111 01110101 11101111 01010010 01111111 11111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,042 |
Words | 194 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 28 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 812 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 191 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 113 Views
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