Analysis of A Literature Lesson. Sir Patrick Spens in the Eighteenth Century Manner
Sir Walter Raleigh 1552 (Hayes Barton, East Budleigh, Devon) – 1618 (London)
In a famed town of Caledonia's land,
A prosperous port contiguous to the strand,
A monarch feasted in right royal state;
But care still dogs the pleasures of the Great,
And well his faithful servants could surmise
From his distracted looks and broken sighs
That though the purple bowl was circling free,
His mind was prey to black perplexity.
At last, while others thoughtless joys invoke,
Fierce from his breast the laboured utterance broke;
"Alas!" he cried, "and what to me the gain
Though I am king of all this fair domain,
Though Ceres minister her plenteous hoard,
And Bacchus with his bounty crowns my board,
If Neptune still, reluctant to obey,
Neglects my sceptre and denies my sway?
On a far mission must my vessels urge
Their course impetuous o'er the boiling surge;
But who shall guide them with a dextrous hand,
And bring them safely to that distant land?
Whose skill shall dare the perils of the deep,
And beard the Sea-god in his stormy keep?
He spake: and straightway, rising from his side
An ancient senator, of reverend pride,
Unsealed his lips, and uttered from his soul
Great store of flatulence and rigmarole;
-- All fled the Court, which shades of night invest,
And Pope and Gay and Prior told the rest.
Scheme | AABBCCDD EEFFGGHHIIAAJJ KKLLMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0011111 010010100101 011001101 1111010101 0111010101 1101010101 11010111001 1111110100 1111010101 1111011001 0111011101 1111111101 110100011 0101110111 1101010101 0111000111 1011011101 11010100101 1111110101 0111011101 1111010101 0101101101 110110111 11010011001 0111010111 111101 1101111101 0101010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,321 |
Words | 222 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 14, 6 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 324 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 72 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 142 Views
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"A Literature Lesson. Sir Patrick Spens in the Eighteenth Century Manner" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/35435/a-literature-lesson.-sir-patrick-spens-in-the-eighteenth-century-manner>.
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