Analysis of Keepe On Your Maske (Version for his Mistress)
William Strode 1602 – 1645
Keepe on your maske and hide your eye
For in beholding you I dye.
Your fatall beauty Gorgon-like
Dead with astonishment doth strike.
Your piercing eyes that now I see
Are worse than Basilisks to me.
Shut from mine eyes those hills of snow,
Their melting vally do not shew:
Those azure paths lead to despaire,
O vex me not, forbear, forbear;
For while I thus in torments dwell
The sight of Heaven is worse than Hell.
In those faire cheeks two pits doe lye
To bury those slaine by your eye:
So this at length doth comfort me
That fairely buried I shall be:
My grave with Roses, Lillies, spread,
Methinks tis life for to be dead:
Come then and kill me with your eye,
For if you let me live I dye.
When I perceive your lips againe
Recover those your eyes have slaine,
With kisses that (like balsome pure)
Deep wounds as soone as made doe cure,
Methinks tis sicknesse to be sound,
And there's no health to such a wound.
When in your bosome I behold
Two hills of snow yet never cold,
Which lovers, whom your beauty kills,
Revive by climing those your hills,
Methinks there's life in such a death
That gives a hope of sweeter breath:
Then since one death prevails not where
So many antidotes are nere,
And your bright eyes doe but in vaine
Kill those who live as fast as slaine;
That I no more such death survive
Your way's to bury me alive
In place unknown, and so that I
Being dead may live and living dye.
Scheme | AABBCCDEFFGGAACCHHAADIFFJJKKLLMMFFDINNAA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (33%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11110111 10010111 1110101 11010011 11011111 111111 11111111 1101111 1101111 111111 1111011 011101111 01111111 11011111 11111101 1110111 1111011 1111111 11011111 11111111 1101111 01011111 1101111 11111111 111111 01111101 1011101 11111101 11011101 0111111 1110101 11011101 11110111 110111 01111101 11111111 11111101 11110101 01010111 101110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,371 |
Words | 270 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 40 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,097 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 268 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:21 min read
- 89 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Keepe On Your Maske (Version for his Mistress)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41658/keepe-on-your-maske-%28version-for-his-mistress%29>.
Discuss this William Strode 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