Analysis of Song - Say, Lovely Dream

Edmund Waller 1606 (Coleshill) – 1687



Say, lovely dream, where couldst thou find
Shadows to counterfeit that face?
Colors of this glorious kind
Come not from any mortal place.

In heaven itself thou sure wert drest
With that angel-like disguise;
Thus deluded am I blest,
And see my joy with closed eyes.

But, ah, this image is too kind
To be other than a dream!
Cruel Sacharissa's mind
Never put on that sweet extreme.

Fair dream, if thou intend'st me grace,
Change that heavenly face of thine;
Paint despised love in thy face,
And make it to appear like mine.

Pale, wan, and meager let it look,
With a pity-moving shape,
Such as wander by the brook
Of Lethe, or from graves escape.

Then to that matchless nymph appear,
In whose shape thou shinest so,
Softly in her sleeping ear,
With humble words express my woe.

Perhaps from greatness, state, and pride,
Thus surprised she may fall:
Sleep does disproportion hide,
And, death resembling, equals all.


Scheme ABAB ACXC ADAD BEBE FGFG XHXH IJIJ
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 11011111 111011 10111001 11110101 010011111 1110101 1010111 0111111 11110111 1110101 1011 10111101 111101111 11100111 1011011 01110111 11010111 1010101 1110101 1111101 1111101 011111 1000101 11010111 01110101 101111 1111 010100101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 894
Words 162
Sentences 10
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 102
Words per stanza (avg) 23
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

49 sec read
41

Edmund Waller

Edmund Waller, FRS was an English poet and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1624 and 1679. more…

All Edmund Waller poems | Edmund Waller Books

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