Analysis of The Damp
John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)
When I am dead, and doctors know not why,
And my friends' curiosity
Will have me cut up to survey each part,—
When they shall find your picture in my heart,
You think a sudden damp of love
Will through all their senses move,
And work on them as me, and so prefer
Your murder to the name of massacre.
Poor victories! But if you dare be brave,
And pleasure in your conquest have,
First kill th' enormous giant, your Disdain,
And let th' enchantress Honour next be slain,
And like a Goth and Vandal rise,
Deface records and histories
Of your own arts and triumphs over men,
And, without such advantage, kill me then.
For I could muster up as well as you
My giants, and my witches too,
Which are vast Constancy and Secretness;
But these I neither look for nor profess.
Kill me as woman, let me die
As a mere man; do you but try
Your passive valour, and you shall find then,
Naked you have odds enough of any man.
Scheme | AXBBXXCC XXDDEXFF GGEXAAFX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111010111 0110100 1111110111 1111110011 11010111 1111101 0111110101 1101011100 1100111111 01001101 111101010101 011111111 01010101 01010100 1111010101 0011010111 1111011111 11001101 11110001 1111011101 11110111 10111111 110101111 10111011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 896 |
Words | 178 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 234 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 58 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 25, 2023
- 53 sec read
- 180 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Damp" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22592/the-damp>.
Discuss this John Donne poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In