Analysis of Song

William Shenstone 1714 (Halesowen) – 1763 (Halesowen)



I told my nymph, I told her true,
My fields were small, my flocks were few,
While faltering accents spoke my fear,
That Flavia might not prove sincere.

Of crops destroyed by vernal cold,
And vagrant sheep that left my fold;
Of these she heard, yet bore to hear;
And is not Flavia then sincere?

How, chang'd by fortune's fickle wind,
The friends I loved became unkind;
She heard, and shed a generous tear;
And is not Flavia then sincere?

How, if she deign'd my love to bless,
My Flavia must not hope for fress;
This, too, she heard, and smiled to hear;
And Flavia, sure, must be sincere.

Go shear your flocks, ye jovial swains;
Go reap the plenty of your plains;
Despoiled of all which you revere,
I know my Flavia's love sincere.


Scheme aabb ccdB eexB ffdb fxbb
Poetic Form Quatrain  (40%)
Etheree  (25%)
Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 11111101 11011101 110010111 110011101 11011101 01011111 11111111 011100101 11110101 01110101 110101001 011100101 11111111 110011111 11110111 010011101 111111001 11010111 1111101 1111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 718
Words 137
Sentences 6
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 112
Words per stanza (avg) 27
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

42 sec read
73

William Shenstone

William Shenstone was an English poet and one of the earliest practitioners of landscape gardening through the development of his estate, The Leasowes. more…

All William Shenstone poems | William Shenstone Books

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