Analysis of A Pastoral Ballad II: Hope
William Shenstone 1714 (Halesowen) – 1763 (Halesowen)
My banks they are furnish'd with bees,
Whose murmur invites one to sleep;
My grottos are shaded with trees,
And my hills are white-over with sheep.
I seldom have met with a loss,
Such health do my fountains bestow;
My fountains all border'd with moss,
Where the hare-bells and violets grow.
Not a pine in my grove is there seen,
But with tendrils of woodbine is bound:
Not a beech's more beautiful green,
But a sweet-briar entwines it around.
Not my fields, in the prime of the year,
More charms than my cattle unfold;
Not a brook that is limpid and clear,
But it glitters with fishes of gold.
One would think she might like to retire
To the bow'r I have labour'd to rear;
Not a shrub that I heard her admire,
But I hasted and planted it there.
O how sudden the jessamine strove
With the lilac to render it gay!
Already it calls for my love,
To prune the wild branches away.
From the plains, from the woodlands and groves,
What strains of wild melody flow!
How the nightingales warble their loves
From thickets of roses that blow!
And when her bright form shall appear,
Each bird shall harmoniously join
In a concert so soft and so clear,
As -- she may not be fond to resign.
I have found out a gift for my fair;
I have found where the wood-pigeons breed:
But let me that plunder forbear,
She will say 'twas a barbarous deed.
For he ne'er could be true, she aver'd,
Who could rob a poor bird of its young:
And I lov'd her the more, when I heard
Such tenderness fall from her tongue.
I have heard her with sweetness unfold
How that pity was due to -- a dove:
That it ever attended the bold;
And she call'd it the sister of love.
But her words such a pleasure convey,
So much I her accents adore,
Let her speak, and whatever she say,
Methinks I should love her the more.
Can a bosom so gentle remain
Unmov'd, when her Corydon sighs!
Will a nymph that is fond of the plain,
These plains and this valley despise?
Dear regions of silence and shade!
Soft scenes of contentment and ease!
Where I could have pleasingly stray'd,
If aught, in her absence, could please.
But where does my Phyllida stray?
And where are her grots and her bow'rs?
Are the groves and the valleys as gay,
And the shepherds as gentle as ours?
The groves may perhaps be as fair,
And the face of the valleys as fine;
The swains may in manners compare,
But their love is not equal to mine.
Scheme | ABABCDCDEF EFGHGHIGIJ XKLKXDXDGX GMJNGNDOXO HLHLKPKPQR QRSASAKAKX JMJM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111011 11001111 1111011 011111011 11011101 11111001 11011011 101101001 101011111 1111111 10111001 101101101 111001101 11111001 10111101 111011011 111111101 101111111 101111001 11101011 111001001 10111011 01011111 11011001 10110101 11111001 1011011 11011011 01011101 111010001 001011011 111111101 111101111 111101101 1111101 111101001 11111111 111011111 011001111 11001101 111011001 111011101 111001001 011101011 101101001 11101001 10101011 1111001 101011001 011011 101111101 11011001 11011001 11101001 11111001 11001011 111111 01101001 101001011 0010110110 01101111 001101011 01101001 111111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,355 |
Words | 449 |
Sentences | 24 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 4 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 260 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 64 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:18 min read
- 60 Views
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"A Pastoral Ballad II: Hope" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41525/a-pastoral-ballad-ii%3A-hope>.
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