Analysis of I Abide and Abide and Better Abide

Sir Thomas Wyatt 1503 (Allington Castle, Kent) – 1542 (Clifton Maybank House, Dorset)



I abide and abide and better abide,
And after the old proverb, the happy day;
And ever my lady to me doth say,
'Let me alone and I will provide.'
I abide and abide and tarry the tide,
And with abiding speed well ye may.
Thus do I abide I wot alway,
Nother obtaining nor yet denied.
Ay me! this long abiding
Seemeth to me, as who sayeth,
A prolonging of a dying death,
Or a refusing of a desir'd thing.
Much were it better for to be plain
Than to say 'abide' and yet shall not obtain.


Scheme ABBAABCADEEDFF
Poetic Form
Metre 10100101001 01001100101 0101101111 110101101 10100101001 010101111 11101111 100101101 1111010 111111 001010101 10010100101 101101111 11101011101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 478
Words 101
Sentences 7
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 366
Words per stanza (avg) 98
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

30 sec read
348

Sir Thomas Wyatt

Sir Thomas Wyatt was a 16th-century English politician, ambassador, and lyric poet credited with introducing the sonnet to English literature. more…

All Sir Thomas Wyatt poems | Sir Thomas Wyatt Books

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