Analysis of The Copernican System
Thomas Chatterton 1752 (Bristol) – 1770 (Holborn)
The Sun revolving on his axis turns,
And with creative fire intensely burns;
Impell'd by forcive air, our Earth supreme,
Rolls with the planets round the solar gleam.
First Mercury completes his transient year,
Glowing, refulgent, with reflected glare;
Bright Venus occupies a wider way,
The early harbinger of night and day;
More distant still our globe terraqueous turns,
Nor chills intense, nor fiercely heated burns;
Around her rolls the lunar orb of light,
Trailing her silver glories through the night:
On the Earth's orbit see the various signs,
Mark where the Sun our year completing shines;
First the bright Ram his languid ray improves;
Next glaring watry thro' the Bull he moves;
The am'rous Twins admit his genial ray;
Now burning thro' the Crab he takes his way;
The Lion flaming bears the solar power;
The Virgin faints beneath the sultry show'r,
Now the just Balance weighs his equal force,
The slimy Serpent swelters in his course;
The sabled Archer clouds his languid face;
The Goat, with tempests, urges on his race;
Now in the Wat'rer his faint beams appear,
And the cold Fishes end the circling year.
Beyond our globe the sanguine Mars displays
A strong reflection of primoeval rays;
Next belted Jupiter far distant gleams,
Scarcely enlighten'd with the solar beams,
With four unfix'd receptacles of light,
He tours majestic thro' the spacious height:
But farther yet the tardy Saturn lags,
And five attendant Luminaries drags,
Investing with a double ring his pace,
He circles thro' immensity of space.
These are thy wondrous works, first source of Good!
Now more admir'd in being understood.
Scheme | AABBCDEEAAFFGGHHEEIJKKLLCCMMNNFFOOLLPP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101011101 01010100101 0111110101 1101010101 1100011101 10110101 110100101 0101001101 110110111 1101110101 0101010111 1001010101 10110101001 11011010101 1011110101 1101010111 011011101 1101011111 01010101010 01010101011 1011011101 0101010011 011011101 011110111 100111101 00110101001 01101010101 01010111 1101001101 1001010101 111010011 1101010101 1101010101 010101001 0101010111 1101111 1111011111 1101001001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,621 |
Words | 269 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 38 |
Lines Amount | 38 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,291 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 267 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:23 min read
- 108 Views
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"The Copernican System" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/36233/the-copernican-system>.
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