Analysis of To a Mistress Dying
Sir William Davenant 1606 (Oxford) – 1668 (London)
Lover. YOUR beauty, ripe and calm and fresh
As eastern summers are,
Must now, forsaking time and flesh,
Add light to some small star.
Philosopher. Whilst she yet lives, were stars decay'd,
Their light by hers relief might find;
But Death will lead her to a shade
Where Love is cold and Beauty blind.
Lover. Lovers, whose priests all poets are,
Think every mistress, when she dies,
Is changed at least into a star:
And who dares doubt the poets wise?
Philosopher. But ask not bodies doom'd to die
To what abode they go;
Since Knowledge is but Sorrow's spy,
It is not safe to know.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD BEBE FGFG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1011010101 110101 11010101 111111 010011110101 11100111 11110101 11110101 1010111101 110010111 11110101 01110101 010011110111 110111 1101111 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 611 |
Words | 108 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 112 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 33 sec read
- 88 Views
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"To a Mistress Dying" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/35622/to-a-mistress-dying>.
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