Analysis of Take not the Gods to task, for they are wise

Alfred Austin 1835 (Leeds) – 1913 (Ashford)



Take not the Gods to task, for they are wise
When they refuse no less than when they grant.
Thou canst but know, with all thy bursting sighs,
What is thy whim, but never what thy want.
Did they, to smite thine importunity,
Answer each swift unregulated prayer,
Oh, what accursèd trudger woulds thou be,
And what a world of fardels have to bear!
Check thy lament. The days will surely come,
Thou wilt regard each crossed or shattered hope,
As now thou dost poor Philip's broken drum,
Or little Rosie's tangled skipping-rope.
Confide in Time, who will, as years expire,
Indulge, or else annihilate, desire.


Scheme ABACBDEDFGFGHI
Poetic Form
Metre 1101111111 1101111111 1111111101 1111110111 111111 101101001 11111111 010111111 1101011101 1101111101 1111110101 1101010101 0101111101 0111010010
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 600
Words 108
Sentences 7
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 472
Words per stanza (avg) 106
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
179

Alfred Austin

Alfred Austin DL was an English poet who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1896 upon the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. more…

All Alfred Austin poems | Alfred Austin Books

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