Analysis of Iambicum Trimetrum
Edmund Spenser 1552 (London) – 1599 (London)
Unhappy verse, the witness of my unhappy state,
Make thy self flutt'ring wings of thy fast flying
Thought, and fly forth unto my love, wheresoever she be:
Whether lying restless in heavy bed, or else
Sitting so cheerless at the cheerful board, or else
Playing alone careless on her heavenly virginals.
If in bed, tell her, that my eyes can take no rest:
If at board, tell her, that my mouth can eat no meat:
If at her virginals, tell her, I can hear no mirth.
Asked why? say: waking love suffereth no sleep:
Say that raging love doth appal the weak stomach:
Say, that lamenting love marreth the musical.
Tell her, that her pleasures were wont to lull me asleep:
Tell her, that her beauty was wont to feed mine eyes:
Tell her, that her sweet tongue was wont to make me mirth.
Now do I nightly waste, wanting my kindly rest:
Now do I daily starve, wanting my lively food:
Now do I always die, wanting thy timely mirth.
And if I waste, who will bewail my heavy chance?
And if I starve, who will record my cursed end?
And if I die, who will say: "This was Immerito"?
Scheme | ABCDDDEFGHIJHKGELGMNA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101010110101 1111111110 10111011111 101010010111 10111010111 100110101001 101101111111 111101111111 11011011111 111101111 11101110110 11010110100 1010100111101 101010111111 101011111111 111101101101 111101101101 11111101101 01111111101 01111101111 0111111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,050 |
Words | 203 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 21 |
Lines Amount | 21 |
Letters per line (avg) | 39 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 817 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 201 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:01 min read
- 89 Views
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"Iambicum Trimetrum" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9160/iambicum-trimetrum>.
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