Analysis of The Shepheardes Calender: July
July: Ægloga Septima. Thomalin & Morrell.
Thomalin.
IS not thilke same a goteheard prowde,
that sittes on yonder bancke,
Whose straying heard them selfe doth shrowde
emong the bushes rancke?
Morrell.
What ho, thou iollye shepheards swayne,
come vp the hill to me:
Better is, then the lowly playne,
als for thy flocke, and thee.
Thomalin.
Ah God shield, man, that I should clime,
and learne to looke alofte,
This reede is ryfe, that oftentime
great clymbers fall vnsoft.
In humble dales is footing fast,
the trode is not so tickle:
And though one fall through heedlesse hast,
yet is his misse not mickle.
And now the Sonne hath reared vp
his fyriefooted teme,
Making his way betweene the Cuppe,
and golden Diademe:
The rampant Lyon hunts he fast,
with Dogge of noysome breath,
Whose balefull barking bringes in hast
pyne, plagues, and dreery death.
Agaynst his cruell scortching heate
where hast thou couerture?
The wastefull hylls vnto his threate
is a playne ouerture.
But if thee lust, to holden chat
with seely shepherds swayne,
Come downe, and learne the little what,
that Thomalin can sayne.
Morrell.
Syker, thous but a laesie loord,
and rekes much of thy swinck,
That with fond termes, and weetlesse words
to blere myne eyes doest thinke.
In euill houre thou hentest in hond
thus holy hylles to blame,
For sacred vnto saints they stond,
and of them han theyr name.
S. Michels mount who does not know,
that wardes the Westerne coste?
And of S. Brigets bowre I trow,
all Kent can rightly boaste:
And they that con of Muses skill,
sayne most what, that they dwell
(As goteheards wont) vpon a hill,
beside a learned well.
And wonned not the great god Pan,
vpon mount Oliuet:
Feeding the blessed flocke of Dan,
which dyd himselfe beget?
Thomalin.
O blessed sheepe, O shepheard great,
that bought his flocke so deare,
And them did saue with bloudy sweat
from Wolues, that would them teare.
Morrel.
Besyde, as holy fathers sayne,
there is a hyllye place,
Where Titan ryseth from the mayne,
to renne hys dayly race.
Vpon whose toppe the starres bene stayed,
and all the skie doth leane,
There is the caue, where Phebe layed,
The shepheard long to dreame.
Whilome there vsed shepheards all
to feede theyr flocks at will,
Till by his foly one did fall,
that all the rest did spill.
And sithens shepheardes bene foresayd
from places of delight:
For thy I weene thou be affrayed,
to clime this hilles height.
Of Synah can I tell thee more,
and of our Ladyes bowre:
But little needes to strow my store,
suffice this hill of our.
Here han the holy Faunes resourse,
and Syluanes haunten rathe.
Here has the salt Medway his sourse,
wherein the Nymphes doe bathe.
The salt Medway, that trickling stremis
adowne the dales of Kent:
Till with his elder brother Themis
his brackish waues be meynt.
Here growes Melampode euery where,
and Terebinth good for Gotes:
The one, my madding kiddes to smere,
the next, to heale theyr throtes.
Hereto, the hills bene nigher heuen,
and thence the passage ethe.
As well can proue the piercing levin,
that seeldome falls bynethe.
Thomalin.
Syker thou speakes lyke a lewde lorrell,
of Heauen to demen so:
How be I am but rude and borrell,
yet nearer wayes I knowe.
To Kerke the narre, from God more farre,
has bene an old sayd sawe.
And he that striues to touch the starres,
oft stombles at a strawe.
Alsoone may shepheard clymbe to skye,
that leades in lowly dales,
As Goteherd prowd that sitting hye,
vpon the Mountaine sayles.
My seely sheepe like well belowe,
they neede not Melampode:
For they bene hale enough, I trowe,
and liken theyr abode.
But if they with thy Gotes should yede,
they soone myght be corrupted:
Or like not of the frowie fede,
or with the weedes be glutted.
The hylls, where dwelled holy saints,
I reuerence and adore:
Not for themselfe, but for the sayncts,
which han be dead of yore.
And nowe they bene to heauen forewent,
theyr good is with them goe:
Theyr sample onely to vs lent,
that als we mought doe soe.
Shepheards they weren of the best,
and liued in lowly leas:
And sith theyr soules bene now at rest,
why done we them disease?
Such one he was, (as I haue heard
old Algrind often sayne)
That whilome was t
Scheme | a Bcdcd Abebe Bececcfcfgegechchcicicbcb Acdjdckckbciclalabcbc Bcici abmbmcbcenlnlcccciiiijojojcjcijijbhbh Baxxpipjpqrqrpcpcccccxijicdcjcscscbc |
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Poetic Form | Tetractys (21%) |
Metre | 11010101 1 1111011 111101 11011111 10101 01 111111 110111 10110101 111101 1 11111111 01111 111111 1111 01011101 0111110 0111111 1111110 0101111 111 1011101 0101 01010111 11111 1110101 11011 11111 1111 011111 1011 11111101 110101 11010101 1111 01 111011 011111 1111011 111111 0111101 110111 1101111 011111 10111111 11011 0111111 111101 01111101 111111 111101 01011 0110111 111 1001111 11101 1 1111101 111111 0111111 111111 1 1110101 11011 1101101 11111 11101101 010111 11011101 010111 11111 111111 1111111 110111 011101 110101 1111111 11111 1111111 011011 11011111 0111110 1101011 0111 1101111 010111 0111101 10111 11110101 110111 11111 01111 01110111 011111 1011011 010101 111101010 1111 1 1111011 11111 111111001 110111 11011111 1101111 01111101 11101 1110111 110101 1111100 1011 1101111 1111 111010111 010101 11111111 1111010 1111011 1101110 0111101 11001 1111101 111111 01110111 111111 11011101 111111 111101 010101 011110111 111101 11111111 11101 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 4,155 |
Words | 743 |
Sentences | 46 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 5, 5, 25, 21, 5, 37, 36 |
Lines Amount | 135 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 408 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 93 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:43 min read
- 104 Views
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"The Shepheardes Calender: July" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9299/the-shepheardes-calender%3A-july>.
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