Analysis of Against Constancy
John Wilmot 1647 (Ditchley, Oxfordshire) – 1680 (Woodstock, Oxfordshire)
Tell me no more of constancy,
The frivolous pretense
Of old age, narrow jealousy,
Disease, and want of sense.
Let duller fools on whom kind chance
Some easy heart has thrown,
Despairing higher to advance,
Be kind to one alone.
Old men and weak, whose idle flame,
Their own defects discovers,
Since changing can but spread their shame,
Ought to be constant lovers,
But we, whose hearts do justly swell
With no vainglorious pride,
Who know how we in love excel,
Long to be often tried.
Then bring my bath and strew my bed,
As each kind night returns:
I'll change a mistress till I'm dead,
And fate change me for worms.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IXIX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (80%) Etheree (30%) |
Metre | 11111100 010001 11110100 010111 11011111 110111 01010101 111101 11011101 1110010 11011111 1111010 11111101 1111 11110101 111101 11110111 111101 11010111 011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 609 |
Words | 116 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 96 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 245 Views
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"Against Constancy" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/55980/against-constancy>.
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