Analysis of Unstable Dream

Sir Thomas Wyatt 1503 (Allington Castle, Kent) – 1542 (Clifton Maybank House, Dorset)



Unstable dream, according to the place,
Be steadfast once, or else at least be true.
By tasted sweetness make me not to rue
The sudden loss of thy false feignèd grace.
By good respect in such a dangerous case
Thou broughtest not her into this tossing mew
But madest my sprite live, my care to renew,
My body in tempest her succour to embrace.
The body dead, the sprite had his desire,
Painless was th'one, th'other in delight.
Why then, alas, did it not keep it right,
Returning, to leap into the fire?
  And where it was at wish, it could not remain,
  Such mocks of dreams they turn to deadly pain.


Scheme ABBAABBACDDCEE
Poetic Form
Metre 0101010101 111111111 1101011111 0101111111 11010101001 1110011101 1111111101 11001001101 01010111010 1011111110001 1101111111 0101101010 01111111101 1111111101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 596
Words 114
Sentences 7
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 462
Words per stanza (avg) 112
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
162

Sir Thomas Wyatt

Sir Thomas Wyatt was a 16th-century English politician, ambassador, and lyric poet credited with introducing the sonnet to English literature. more…

All Sir Thomas Wyatt poems | Sir Thomas Wyatt Books

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