Analysis of The Price of An Equipage
William Shenstone 1714 (Halesowen) – 1763 (Halesowen)
Servum si potes, Ole, non habere,
Et regem potes, Ole, non habere. Mart.
('If thou from Fortune dost no servant crave,
Believe me thou no master need'st to have.')
I ask'd a friend, amidst the throng,
Whose coach it was that trail'd along?
'The gilded coach there - don't ye mind?
That with the footmen stuck behind.'
'O Sir!' says he, 'what! han't you seen it?
'Tis Damon's Coach, and Damon in it.
'Tis odd, methinks, you have forgot
Your friend, your neighbour, and - what not!
Your old acquaintance Damon!' - 'True;
But faith his Equipage is new.'
'Bless me,' said I, 'where can it end?
That madness has possess'd my friend?
Four powder'd slaves, and those the tallest,
Their stomachs, doubtless, not the smallest!
Can Damon's revenue maintain,
In lace and food, so large a train?
I know his land - each inch of ground -
'Tis not a mile to walk it round -
If Damon's whole estate can bear
To keep his lad and one-horse chair,
I own 'tis past my comprehension.'
'Yes, Sir; but Damon has a pension.'
Thus does a false ambition rule us,
Thus pomp delude, and folly fool us;
To keep a race of flickering knaves,
He grows himself the worst of slaves.
Scheme | AX XX BBCCDDEEAXFFXXGGHHAAIIJJKK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) Etheree (20%) |
Metre | 111111 1111111 1111011101 01111101111 11010101 11111101 01011111 1101101 1111111111 110101001 1111101 1111011 11010101 111111 11111111 11010111 110101010 110101010 1101001 01011101 11111111 11011111 11010111 11110111 11111010 111101010 110101011 110101011 110111001 11010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,127 |
Words | 221 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 2, 26 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 283 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 70 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:07 min read
- 92 Views
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"The Price of An Equipage" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41610/the-price-of-an-equipage>.
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