Analysis of You Meaner Beauties of the Night

Sir Henry Wotton 1568 (parish) – 1639 (chapel of Eton College)



You meaner beauties of the night,
That poorly satisfy our eyes
More by your number than your light;
You common people of the skies,
What are you when the sun shall rise?

You curious chanters of the wood,
That warble forth Dame Nature's lays,
Thinking your voices understood
By your weak accents; what's your praise
When Philomel her voice shall raise?

You violets that first appear,
By your pure purple mantles known,
Like the proud virgins of the year,
As if the spring were all your own;
What are you when the rose is blown?

So, when my mistress shall be seen
In form and beauty of her mind,
By virtue first, then choice, a queen,
Tell me, if she were not design'd
Th' eclipse and glory of her kind?


Scheme ABABB CDCDD EFEFF GHGHH
Poetic Form Etheree  (35%)
Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 11010101 11010101 11110111 11010101 11110111 11001101 11011101 1011001 11110111 110111 11001101 11110101 10110101 11010111 11110111 11110111 01010101 11011101 11110101 1101010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 690
Words 132
Sentences 5
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 137
Words per stanza (avg) 33
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 24, 2023

40 sec read
115

Sir Henry Wotton

Sir Henry Wotton was an English author, diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1614 and 1625. more…

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