Analysis of Devotion i

Thomas Campion 1567 – 1620



FOLLOW thy fair sun, unhappy shadow!
   Though thou be black as night,
   And she made all of light,
Yet follow thy fair sun, unhappy shadow!

Follow her, whose light thy light depriveth!
   Though here thou liv'st disgraced,
   And she in heaven is placed,
Yet follow her whose light the world reviveth!

Follow those pure beams, whose beauty burneth!
   That so have scorched thee
   As thou still black must be,
Till her kind beams thy black so brightness turneth.

Follow her, while yet her glory shineth!
   There comes a luckless night
   That will dim all her light;
And this the black unhappy shade divineth.

Follow still, since so thy fates ordained!
   The sun must have his shade,
   Till both at once do fade,--
The sun still proud, the shadow still disdained.


Scheme ABBA CDDC CCXC CBBC EFFE
Poetic Form Quatrain  (80%)
Metre 101110101 111111 011111 1101110101 10011111 1111101 0101011 110011011 101111101 11111 111111 1011111101 100110101 110101 111101 010101011 101111101 011111 111111 011101101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 777
Words 133
Sentences 11
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 116
Words per stanza (avg) 26
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

40 sec read
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Thomas Campion

Thomas Campion sometimes Campian was an English composer poet and physician Campion was first published as a poet in 1591 with five of his works appearing in an edition of Sir Philip Sidneys Astrophel and Stella more…

All Thomas Campion poems | Thomas Campion Books

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