Analysis of The Distracted Puritan
Richard Corbet 1582 (England) – 1635
Am I mad, O noble Festus,
When zeal and godly knowledge
Have put me in hope
To deal with the Pope
As well as the best in the college?
Boldly I preach, I hate a cross, hate a surplice,
Mitres, copes, and rochets!
Come hear me pray nine times a day,
And fill your heads with crotchets.
In the house of pure Emanuel
I had my education,
Where my friends surmise
I dazel'd my eyes
With the sight of revelation.
Boldly I preach, I hate a cross, hate a surplice,
Mitres, copes, and rochets!
Come hear me pray nine times a day,
And fill your heads with crotchets.
They hound me like a bedlam,
They lash'd my four poor quarters.
Whilst this I endure,
Faith makes me sure
To be one of Foxes martyrs.
Boldly I preach, I hate a cross, hate a surplice,
Mitres, copes, and rochets!
Come hear me pray nine times a day,
And fill your heads with crotchets.
These injuries I suffer
Through antichrist's perswasion.
Take off this chain!
Neither Rome nor Spain
Can resist my strong invasion.
Boldly I preach, I hate a cross, hate a surplice,
Mitres, copes, and rochets!
Come hear me pray nine times a day,
And fill your heads with crotchets.
Of the beast's ten horns (God bless us!)
I have knock'd off three already;
If they let me alone
I'll leave him none;
But they say I am too heady.
Boldly I preach, I hate a cross, hate a surplice,
Mitres, copes, and rochets!
Come hear me pray nine times a day,
And fill your heads with crotchets.
When I sack'd the seven-hill'd city
I met the great red dragon;
I kept him aloof
With the armour of proof,
Though here I have never a rag on.
Boldly I preach, I hate a cross, hate a surplice,
Mitres, copes, and rochets!
Come hear me pray nine times a day,
And fill your heads with crotchets.
With a fiery sword and target,
There fought I with this monster;
But the sons of pride
My zeal deride,
And all my deeds misconster.
Boldly I preach, I hate a cross, hate a surplice,
Mitres, copes, and rochets!
Come hear me pray nine times a day,
And fill your heads with crotchets.
I un-hors'd the Whore of Babel
With the lance of Inspiration;
I made her stink,
And spill the drink,
In her cup of abomination.
Boldly I preach, I hate a cross, hate a surplice,
Mitres, copes, and rochets!
Come hear me pray nine times a day,
And fill your heads with crotchets.
I have seen two in a vision
With a flying book between them.
I have been in despair
Five times in a year,
And been cur'd by reading Greenham.
Boldly I preach, I hate a cross, hate a surplice,
Mitres, copes, and rochets!
Come hear me pray nine times a day,
And fill your heads with crotchets.
I observ'd in Perkins' tables
The black line of damnation;
Those crooked veins
So stuck in my brains,
That I fear'd my reprobation.
Boldly I preach, I hate a cross, hate a surplice,
Mitres, copes, and rochets!
Come hear me pray nine times a day,
And fill your heads with crotchets.
In the holy tongue of Canaan
I plac'd my chiefest pleasure,
Till I prick'd my foot
With an Hebrew root
That I bled beyond all measure.
Boldly I preach, I hate a cross, hate a surplice,
Mitres, copes, and rochets!
Come hear me pray nine times a day,
And fill your heads with crotchets.
I appear'd before the Archbishop
And all the high Commission;
I gave him no grace,
But told him to his face
That he favour'd superstition.
Boldly I preach, hate a cross, hate a surplice
Mitres, copes, and rochets!
Come hear me pray nine times a day,
And fill your heads with crotchets.
Scheme | axbbxAACA deffeAACA ghiihAACA jekkeAACA alxelAACA lemmxAACA xjnniAACA deooeAACA exxxgAACA xeppeAACA ejxxjAACA xeqqeaACA |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111010 1101010 11101 11101 111010010 10111101101 1101 11111101 011111 001110100 111010 11101 1111 1011010 10111101101 1101 11111101 011111 1111010 1111110 11101 1111 11111010 10111101101 1101 11111101 011111 1100110 111 1111 10111 10111010 10111101101 1101 11111101 011111 10111111 11111010 111101 1111 11111110 10111101101 1101 11111101 011111 111010110 1101110 11101 101011 111110011 10111101101 1101 11111101 011111 101001010 1111110 10111 1101 01111 10111101101 1101 11111101 011111 11101110 1011010 1101 0101 00110010 10111101101 1101 11111101 011111 11110010 10101011 111001 11001 01111010 10111101101 1101 11111101 011111 10101010 0111010 1101 11011 11111 10111101101 1101 11111101 011111 00101110 111110 11111 11101 11101110 10111101101 1101 11111101 011111 101010110 0101010 11111 111111 111010 1011101101 1101 11111101 011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,318 |
Words | 647 |
Sentences | 42 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9 |
Lines Amount | 108 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 218 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 54 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:19 min read
- 125 Views
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"The Distracted Puritan" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/30036/the-distracted-puritan>.
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