Upon The Sudden Restraint Of The Earl Of Somerset, Then Falling From Favour

Sir Henry Wotton 1568 (parish) – 1639 (chapel of Eton College)



Dazled thus with height of place,
Whilst our Hopes our wits Beguile,
No man marks the narrow space
'Twixt a Prison and a Smile.

Then since Fortunes favours fade,
You that in her arms do sleep,
Learn to swim and not to wade;
For the Hearts of Kings are deep.

But if Greatness be so blind,
As to trust in Towers of Air,
Let it be with Goodness lin'd,
That at least the Fall be fair.

Then though darkned you shall say,
When Friends fail and Princes frown,
Vertue is the roughest way,
But proves at night a Bed of Down.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

31 sec read
128

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 509
Words 103
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4

Sir Henry Wotton

Sir Henry Wotton was an English author, diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1614 and 1625. more…

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