Sonnet XXII. To Simplicity

Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 (Ottery St Mary) – 1834 (Highgate)



O! I do love thee, meek Simplicity!
For of thy lays the lulling simpleness
Goes to my heart, and soothes each small distress--
Distress tho' small, yet haply great to me!
'Tis true, on Lady Fortune's gentlest pad
I amble on; yet tho' I know not why,
So sad I am! but should a friend and I
Grow cool and miff, O! I am very sad!
And then with sonnets and with sympathy
My dreamy bosom's mystic woes I pall;
Now of my false friend plaining plaintively,
Now raving at mankind in general:
But whether sad or fierce, 'tis simple all,
All very simple, meek Simplicity.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 16, 2023

33 sec read
207

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBACDDCAEAFGA
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 558
Words 108
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. more…

All Samuel Taylor Coleridge poems | Samuel Taylor Coleridge Books

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