Analysis of Epilogue To "Mithridates, King Of Pontus;" By Nathan Lee, 1678.
John Dryden 1631 (Aldwincle) – 1631 (London)
You've seen a pair of faithful lovers die:
And much you care; for most of you will cry,
'Twas a just judgment on their constancy.
For, heaven be thank'd, we live in such an age,
When no man dies for love, but on the stage:
And even those martyrs are but rare in plays;
A cursed sign how much true faith decays.
Love is no more a violent desire;
'Tis a mere metaphor, a painted fire.
In all our sex, the name examined well,
Tis pride to gain, and vanity to tell.
In woman, 'tis of subtle interest made:
Curse on the punk that made it first a trade!
She first did wit's prerogative remove,
And made a fool presume to prate of love.
Let honour and preferment go for gold;
But glorious beauty is not to be sold:
Or, if it be, 'tis at a rate so high,
That nothing but adoring it should buy.
Yet the rich cullies may their boasting spare;
They purchase but sophisticated ware.
'Tis prodigality that buys deceit,
Where both the giver and the taker cheat.
Men but refine on the old half-crown way;
And women fight, like Swissers, for their pay.
Scheme | AABCCDDEEFFGGHIJJAAKKLLMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1101110101 0111111111 1011011100 11011110111 1111111101 01011011101 011111101 11110100010 10110001010 01101010101 1111010011 0101110101 1101111101 1111010001 0101011111 1101111 11001011111 1111110111 1101010111 101111101 110101001 111101 1101000101 1101101111 010111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,012 |
Words | 198 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 25 |
Lines Amount | 25 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 793 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 198 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
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"Epilogue To "Mithridates, King Of Pontus;" By Nathan Lee, 1678." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/55892/epilogue-to-%22mithridates%2C-king-of-pontus%3B%22-by-nathan-lee%2C-1678.>.
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