Analysis of A Skeltoniad
Michael Drayton 1563 (Hartshill) – 1631 (London)
The Muse should be sprightly,
Yet not handling lightly
Things graue; as much loath,
Things that be slight, to cloath
Curiously: To retayne
The Comelinesse in meane,
Is true Knowledge and Wit.
Not me forc'd Rage doth fit,
That I thereto should lacke
Tabacco, or need Sacke,
Which to the colder Braine
Is the true Hyppocrene;
Nor did I euer care
For great Fooles, nor them spare.
Vertue, though neglected,
Is not so deiected,
As vilely to descend
To low Basenesse their end;
Neyther each ryming Slaue
Deserues the Name to haue
Of Poet: so the Rabble
Of Fooles, for the Table,
That haue their Iests by Heart,
As an Actor his Part,
Might assume them Chayres
Amongst the Muses Heyres.
Parnassus is not clome
By euery such Mome;
Vp whose steep side who swerues,
It behoues t' haue strong Nerues:
My Resolution such,
How well, and not how much
To write, thus doe I fare,
Like some few good that care
(The euill sort among)
How well to liue, and not how long.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEECCFFGDHHAIJJKKLLMMLLNNFFEE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011110 111010 11111 111111 100011 0101 111001 111111 11111 1111 110101 1011 11111 111111 11010 1111 11101 11111 1111 10111 1101010 111010 111111 111011 10111 010101 10111 1111 111111 111111 10101 110111 111111 111111 01101 11110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 916 |
Words | 174 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 36 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 742 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 174 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 52 sec read
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"A Skeltoniad" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/56185/a-skeltoniad>.
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