Analysis of To A Young Lady, On Being Too Fond Of Music
Charles Lamb 1775 (Inner Temple, London) – 1834 (Edmonton, London)
Why is your mind thus all day long
Upon your music set;
Till reason's swallowed in a song,
Or idle canzonet?
I grant you, Melesinda, when
Your instrument was new,
I was well pleased to see you then
Its charms assiduous woo.
The rudiments of any art
Or mastery that we try,
Are only on the learner's part
Got by hard industry.
But you are past your first essays;
Whene'er you play, your touch,
Skilful and light, ensures you praise:
All beyond that's too much.
Music's sweet uses are, to smooth
Each rough and angry passion;
To elevate at once, and soothe:
A heavenly recreation.
But we misconstrue, and defeat
The end of any good;
When what should be our casual treat,
We make our constant food.
While, to the exclusion of the rest,
This single art you ply,
Your nobler studies are supprest,
Your books neglected lie.
Could you in what you so affect
The utmost summit reach;
Beyond what fondest friends expect,
Or skilfullest masters teach:
The skill you learned would not repay
The time and pains it cost,
Youth's precious season thrown away,
And reading-leisure lost.
A benefit to books we owe
Music can ne'er dispense;
The one does only sound bestow,
The other gives us sense.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEX GHGH IJIJ KXKX XFBF LMLM NXNX OPOP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (70%) Etheree (30%) |
Metre | 11111111 011101 1110001 1101 11111 110011 11111111 110101 01001101 1100111 1101011 111100 11111101 11111 1010111 101111 10110111 1101010 1101101 0100010 11001001 011101 1111101001 1110101 110010101 110111 1101011 110101 11011101 01101 01110101 11101 01111101 010111 11010101 010101 01001111 101101 01110101 010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,148 |
Words | 212 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 92 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 21 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:05 min read
- 107 Views
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