Analysis of Love's Alchemy

John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)



Some that have deeper digg'd love's mine than I,
Say, where his centric happiness doth lie;
    I have lov'd, and got, and told,
But should I love, get, tell, till I were old,
I should not find that hidden mystery.
    Oh, 'tis imposture all!
And as no chemic yet th'elixir got,
    But glorifies his pregnant pot
    If by the way to him befall
Some odoriferous thing, or medicinal,
     So, lovers dream a rich and long delight,
     But get a winter-seeming summer's night.

Our ease, our thrift, our honour, and our day,
 Shall we for this vain bubble's shadow pay?
    Ends love in this, that my man
Can be as happy'as I can, if he can
Endure the short scorn of a bridegroom's play?
    That loving wretch that swears
'Tis not the bodies marry, but the minds,
    Which he in her angelic finds,
    Would swear as justly that he hears,
In that day's rude hoarse minstrelsy, the spheres.
    Hope not for mind in women; at their best
    Sweetness and wit, they'are but mummy, possess'd.


Scheme AABBXCDDCXEE FFGGFXHHXXII
Poetic Form
Metre 1111011111 111110011 1110101 1111111101 1111110100 1111 01111110101 1101101 11011101 11110100 1101010101 1101010101 1011011010101 11111111 1101111 11110111111 010111011 110111 1101010101 1100101 11110111 01111101 1111010111 10011111001
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 975
Words 175
Sentences 8
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 12, 12
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 30
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 358
Words per stanza (avg) 87
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 11, 2023

55 sec read
219

John Donne

John Donne was an English poet, satirist, lawyer and a cleric in the Church of England. more…

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