Analysis of Answer To Some Elegant Verses Sent By A Friend To The Author, Complaining That One Of His Descriptions Was Rather Too Warmly Drawn.
George Gordon Byron 1788 – 1824
"But if any old Lady, Knight, Priest, or Physician,
Should condemn me for printing a second edition;
If good Madam Squintum my work should abuse,
May I venture to give her a smack of my muse?"
Anstey's 'New Bath Guide', p. 169.
Candour compels me, BECHER! to commend
The verse, which blends the censor with the friend;
Your strong yet just reproof extorts applause
From me, the heedless and imprudent cause;
For this wild error, which pervades my strain,
I sue for pardon, - must I sue in vain?
The wise sometimes from Wisdom's ways depart;
Can youth then hush the dictates of the heart?
Precepts of prudence curb, but can't controul,
The fierce emotions of the flowing soul.
When Love's delirium haunts the glowing mind,
Limping Decorum lingers far behind;
Vainly the dotard mends her prudish pace,
Outstript and vanquish'd in the mental chase.
The young, the old, have worn the chains of love;
Let those, they ne'er confined, my lay reprove;
Let those, whose souls contemn the pleasing power,
Their censures on the hapless victim shower.
Oh! how I hate the nerveless, frigid song,
The ceaseless echo of the rhyming throng,
Whose labour'd lines, in chilling numbers flow,
To paint a pang the author ne'er can know!
The artless Helicon, I boast, is youth; -
My Lyre, the Heart - my Muse, the simple Truth.
Far be't from me the "virgin's mind" to "taint:"
Seduction's dread is here no slight restraint:
The maid whose virgin breast is void of guile,
Whose wishes dimple in a modest smile,
Whose downcast eye disdains the wanton leer,
Firm in her virtue's strength, yet not severe;
She, whom a conscious grace shall thus refine,
Will ne'er be "tainted" by a strain of mine.
But, for the nymph whose premature desires
Torment her bosom with unholy fires,
No net to snare her willing heart is spread;
She would have fallen, though she ne'er had read.
For me, I fain would please the chosen few,
Whose souls, to feeling and to nature true,
Will spare the childish verse, and not destroy
The light effusions of a heedless boy.
I seek not glory from the senseless crowd;
Of fancied laurels, I shall ne'er be proud;
Their warmest plaudits I would scarcely prize,
Their sneers or censures, I alike despise.
Scheme | AAXX X BBXXCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJEXKKLLEEIXMMNNOOPPQQRRSS |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110110111010 1011110010010 1110111101 111011001111 11111 101110101 0111010101 111110101 110100101 1111010111 1111011101 010111101 1111001101 11101111 0101010101 11010010101 1001010101 100110101 101000101 0101110111 111101111 1111101010 1110101010 111101101 0101010101 111010101 1101010111 01101111 1101110101 11111010111 11111101 0111011111 1101000101 111010101 100111101 1101011101 1111010111 1101101010 1010101010 1111010111 1111011111 1111110101 1111001101 1101010101 0111011 1111010101 1101011111 1101011101 111110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,158 |
Words | 389 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 1, 44 |
Lines Amount | 49 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 569 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 128 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:00 min read
- 9 Views
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"Answer To Some Elegant Verses Sent By A Friend To The Author, Complaining That One Of His Descriptions Was Rather Too Warmly Drawn." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/55351/answer-to-some-elegant-verses-sent-by-a-friend-to-the-author%2C-complaining-that-one-of-his-descriptions-was-rather-too-warmly-drawn.>.
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