Analysis of To A Noble Friend In His Sickness

Sir Henry Wotton 1568 (parish) – 1639 (chapel of Eton College)



Untimely Feaver, rude insulting guest,
How didst thou with such unharmonious heat
Dare to distune his well-composed rest;
Whose heart so just and noble stroaks did beat?

What if his Youth and Spirits well may bear
More thick assaults, and stronger siege then this?
We measure not his courage, but our fear:
Not what our selves, but what the Times may miss.

Had not that blood, which thrice his veins did yield,
Been better treasur'd for some glorious day:
At farthest West to paint the liquid field,
And with new Worlds his Masters love to pay?

But let those thoughts, sweet Lord, repose a while,
Tend only now thy vigour to regain;
And pardon these poor Rimes, that would beguile
With mine own grief, some portion of thy pain.


Scheme ABAB XCXC DEDE FGFG
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 010110101 1111111 11111011 1111010111 1111010111 1101010111 11011101101 11101110111 1111111111 11010111001 1101110101 0111110111 1111110101 110111101 0101111101 1111110111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 720
Words 131
Sentences 6
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 144
Words per stanza (avg) 32
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

39 sec read
91

Sir Henry Wotton

Sir Henry Wotton was an English author, diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1614 and 1625. more…

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