Analysis of To the King on His Navy
Edmund Waller 1606 (Coleshill) – 1687
Where'er thy navy spreads her canvas wings,
Homage to thee, and peace to all, she brings:
The French and Spaniard, when thy flags appear,
Forget their hatred, and consent to fear.
So Jove from Ida did both hosts survey,
And when he pleas'd to thunder, part the fray.
Ships heretofore in seas like fishes sped,
The mightiest still upon the smallest fed:
Thou on the deep imposest nobler laws,
And by that justice hast remov'd the cause
Of those rude tempests, which, for rapine sent,
Too oft, alas, involv'd the innocent.
Now shall the ocean, as thy Thames, be free
From both those fates, of storms and piracy.
But we most happy, who can fear no force
But winged troops, or Pegasean horse:
'Tis not so hard for greedy foes to spoil
Another nation, as to touch our soil.
Should Nature's self invade the world again,
And o'er the centre spread the liquid main,
Thy power were safe; and her destructive hand
Would but enlarge the bounds of thy command:
Thy dreadful fleet would style thee lord of all,
And ride in triumph o'er the drowned ball:
Those towers of oak o'er fertile plains might go,
And visit mountains, where they once did grow.
The world's restorer once could not endure,
That finish'd Babel should those men secure,
Whose pride design'd that fabric to have stood
Above the reach of any second flood:
To thee His chosen, more indulgent, He
Dares trust such power with so much piety.
Scheme | AABBCCDDXXXXEEFFGGXXHHIIJJ KKXXEE |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011010101 1011011111 0101011101 0111000111 1111011101 0111110101 101011101 01001010101 11011101 0111010101 11111111 1101010100 1101011111 1111110100 1111011111 111111 1111110111 01010111101 1101010101 01001010101 11001000101 1101011101 1101111111 0101010011 110111010111 0101011111 0101011101 1101011101 1101110111 0101110101 1111010101 11110111100 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,369 |
Words | 250 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 26, 6 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 545 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 124 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:18 min read
- 47 Views
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"To the King on His Navy" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9335/to-the-king-on-his-navy>.
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