Analysis of On The Yong Baronett Portman Dying Of An Impostume In's Head
Is Death so cunning now that all her blowe
Aymes at the heade? Doth now her wary Bowe
Make surer worke than heertofore? The steele
Slew warlike heroes onely in the heele.
New found out slights, when men themselves begin
To be theyr proper Fates by new found sinne.
Tis cowardize to make a wound so sure;
No Art in killing where no Art can cure.
Was it for hate of learning that she smote
This upper shoppe where all the Muses wrought?
Learning shall crosse her drift, and duly trie
All wayes and meanes of immortalitie.
Because her heade was crusht, doth shee desire
Our equall shame? In vayne she doth aspire.
No: noe: Wee know where ere shee make a breach
Her poysened Sting onely the Heele can reach.
Looke on the Soule of man, the very Heart;
The Head itselfe is but a lower parte:
Yet hath shee straynde her utmost tyranny,
And done her worst in that she came so high.
Had she reservde this stroke for haughty men,
For politique Contrivers; justly then
The Punishment were matcht with the offence:
But when Humility and Innocence
So indiscreetly in the Heade are hitt,
Death hath done Murther, and shall die for itt:
Thinke it no Favour showne because the Braine
Is voyde of sence, and therefore free from payne.
Thinke it noe kindness when so stealingly
He rather seemde to jest away than die,
And like that Innocent, the Widdows childe
Cryde out, My head, my head: and so it dyde.
Thinke it was rather double cruelty,
Slaughter intended on his Name, that Hee
Whose thoughts were nothing taynted, nothing vayne,
Might seeme to hide Corruption in his brayne.
How easy might this Blott bee wipte away
If any Pen his worth could open lay?
For which those Harlott-prayses, which wee reare
In common dust, as much too slender are
As great for others. Boasting Elegies
Must here bee dumbe. Desert that overweighs
All our Reward stoppes all our Prayse: lest wee
Might seeme to give alike to Them and Thee:
Wherfore an humble Verse, and such a strayne
As mine will hide the truth while others fayne.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFEGHIIEEJFKKLLEECMBEEEEJCCNNDOLLJJCM |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111011101 1101110101 11011101 11101001 1111110101 1111011111 11110111 1101011111 1111110111 1101110101 1011010101 110111 01011111010 1011011101 1111111101 01110111 1101110101 011110101 111101100 0101011111 111111101 111101 010001101 1101000100 1100111 111101111 111110101 111101111 11110111 1101110111 011100011 1111110111 111101010 1001011111 110101101 1111010011 1101111101 1101111101 11111111 0101111101 11110101 11111011 110011110111 1111011101 111010101 1111011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,960 |
Words | 364 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 46 |
Lines Amount | 46 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,586 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 362 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:49 min read
- 101 Views
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"On The Yong Baronett Portman Dying Of An Impostume In's Head" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41696/on-the-yong-baronett-portman-dying-of-an-impostume-in%27s-head>.
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