Analysis of On The Author Of Letters On Literature

William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)



The genius of the Augustan age
His head among Rome's ruins reared,
And bursting with heroic rage,
When literary Heron appeared,

Thou hast, he cried, like him of old
Who set the Ephesian dome on fir
By being scandalously bold,
Attained the mark of thy desire.

And for traducing Virgil's name
Shalt share his merited reward;
A perpetuity of fame,
That rots, and stinks, and is abhorred.


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF
Poetic Form Traditional rhyme
Quatrain 
Metre 0101011 11011101 01010101 11001001 11111111 1101111 11011 010111010 01111 11110001 0010011 11010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 382
Words 69
Sentences 3
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 101
Words per stanza (avg) 22
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

21 sec read
303

William Cowper

William Macquarie Cowper was an Australian Anglican archdeacon and Dean of Sydney. more…

All William Cowper poems | William Cowper Books

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