Analysis of On A Gentlewoman's Watch That Wanted A Key
William Strode 1602 – 1645
Thou pretty heav'n whose great and lesser spheares
With constant wheelings measure hours and yeares
Soe faithfully that thou couldst solve the doubt
Of erring Time if Nature should be out,
Where's thy intelligence? thy Soule? the Key
That gives thee Life and Motion? must thou stay
Thus cramp'd with rusty Sloth? and shall each wheele
Disorganis'd confess it is but steele?
Art's Living Creature, is thy thread all spent?
Thy Pulse quite dead? hath Time a period sent
To his owne Sister? slaine his Eeven Match?
That when we looke 'tis doomesday by the Watch.
Prithee sweete Watch be marri'd, joyne thy side
Unto an active key, and then abide
A frequent screwing, till successively
More and more Time beget Eternity.
Knowe as a Woman never lock'd and key'd
Once in twice twelve growes faint and is downe-weighed
From Nature's full intent, and cannot live
Beyond her natural span, unlesse Man give
His vanish'd bone a quick'ning, unless Man
Doe adde an Ell unto her now shrunk span,
Unless he lengthen out posteritie
Her secret orbes will faint and She all die;
Soe will thy wheeles decay, and finde their date
Unless a Key their houres doe propagate:
Then gett a key and live; my life Ile gage
Each minute then shall grow into an age;
Then lett thy Mistresse looking smile on Thee,
And say 'tis time my Watch and I agree.
Scheme | AABBCDEEFFGHIICCJKLMNNBOPPQQCC |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101110101 1101101001 1100111101 1101110111 1101001101 1111010111 1111010111 1011111 1101011111 11111101001 111101111 111111101 111110111 1011010101 0101010100 1011010100 1101010101 1011110111 1101010101 0101001111 1101011011 1111100111 0111011 0101110111 1111010111 010111110 1101011111 1101110111 111110111 0111110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,300 |
Words | 236 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 30 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,047 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 234 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:14 min read
- 63 Views
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"On A Gentlewoman's Watch That Wanted A Key" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41669/on-a-gentlewoman%27s-watch-that-wanted-a-key>.
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