Analysis of Epilogue For Mr. Lee Lewes
Oliver Goldsmith 1730 (Ballymahon) – 1774 (Brick Court, London)
Hold! Prompter, hold! a word before your nonsense;
I'd speak a word or two, to ease my conscience.
My pride forbids it ever should be said,
My heels eclips'd the honours of my head;
That I found humour in a piebald vest,
Or ever thought that jumping was a jest.
('Takes off his mask.')
Whence, and what art thou, visionary birth?
Nature disowns, and reason scorns thy mirth,
In thy black aspect every passion sleeps,
The joy that dimples, and the woe that weeps.
How has thou fill'd the scene with all thy brood,
Of fools pursuing, and of fools pursu'd!
Whose ins and outs no ray of sense discloses,
Whose only plot it is to break our noses;
Whilst from below the trap-door Demons rise,
And from above the dangling deities;
And shall I mix in this unhallow'd crew?
May rosined lightning blast me, if I do!
No I will act, I'll vindicate the stage:
Shakespeare himself shall feel my tragic rage.
Off! off! vile trappings! a new passion reigns!
The madd'ning monarch revels in my veins.
Oh! for a Richard's voice to catch the theme:
'Give me another horse! bind up my wounds!
soft 'twas but a dream.'
Aye, 'twas but a dream, for now there's no retreating:
If I cease Harlequin, I cease from eating.
'Twas thus that Aesop's stag, a creature blameless,
Yet something vain, like one that shall be nameless,
Once on the margin of a fountain stood,
And cavill'd at his image in the flood.
'The deuce confound,' he cries, 'these drumstick shanks,
They never have my gratitude nor thanks;
They're perfectly disgraceful! strike me dead!
But for a head, yes, yes, I have a head.
How piercing is that eye! how sleek that brow!
My horns! I'm told horns are the fashion now.'
Whilst thus he spoke, astonish'd, to his view,
Near, and more near, the hounds and huntsmen drew.
'Hoicks! hark forward!' came thund'ring from behind,
He bounds aloft, outstrips the fleeting wind:
He quits the woods, and tries the beaten ways;
He starts, he pants, he takes the circling maze.
At length his silly head, so priz'd before,
Is taught his former folly to deplore;
Whilst his strong limbs conspire to set him free,
And at one bound he saves himself, like me.
('Taking a hump through the stage door'.)
Scheme | ABCCDDEFFGGHHIIJKLLMMNNOPOQQRRSTUUCCVVLLWWXXYYZZY |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110101110 11011111110 1101110111 110101111 11110011 1101110101 1111 101111001 101010111 0111100101 0111000111 1111011111 1101001101 11011111010 110111111010 1101011101 01010100100 01110111 111011111 1111110001 101111101 1111001101 011110011 1101011101 1101011111 11101 111011111010 11110011110 1111101010 11011111110 1101010101 011110001 0101111101 110111011 1100010111 1101111101 1101111111 1111110101 1111010111 101101011 111011101 1101010101 1101010101 11111101001 1111011101 1111010101 11110101111 0111110111 10011011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,124 |
Words | 395 |
Sentences | 36 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 49 |
Lines Amount | 49 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,658 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 389 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:02 min read
- 5 Views
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"Epilogue For Mr. Lee Lewes" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/56293/epilogue-for-mr.-lee-lewes>.
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