Analysis of On the Burning of Lord Mansfield's Library
William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)
On the Burning of Lord Mansfield's Library, Together with his MSS. by the Mob, in the Month of June 1780.
So then - the Vandals of our isle,
Sworn foes to sense and law,
Have burnt to dust a nobler pile
Than ever Roman saw!
And Murray sighs o'er Pope and Swift,
And many a treasure more,
The well-judged purchase and the gift
That graced his lettered store.
Their
pages mangled, burnt, and torn,
The loss was
his alone;
But ages yet to come shall mourn
The burning of
his own.
Scheme | X ABAB CDCD XEXF EXF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10101111001011110100111 110101101 111101 11110101 110101 010110101 0100101 01110001 111101 1 1010101 011 101 11011111 0101 11 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 473 |
Words | 93 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 4, 4, 4, 3 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 73 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 18 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 28 sec read
- 433 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"On the Burning of Lord Mansfield's Library" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40047/on-the-burning-of-lord-mansfield%27s-library>.
Discuss this William Cowper poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In