Analysis of Sonnet VIII. To Mercy
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 (Ottery St Mary) – 1834 (Highgate)
Not always should the tear's ambrosial dew
Roll its soft anguish down thy furrowed cheek!
Not always heaven-breathed tones of suppliance meek
Beseem thee, Mercy! Yon dark Scowler view,
Who with proud words of dear-loved Freedom came--
More blasting than the mildew from the south!
And kissed his country with Iscariot mouth;
(Ah! foul apostate from his Father's fame!)
Then fixed her on the cross of deep distress,
And at safe distance marks the thirsty lance
Pierce her big side! But oh! if some strange trance
The eye-lids of thy stern-browed Sister press,
Seize, Mercy! thou more terrible the brand,
And hurl her thunderbolts with fiercer hand!
Scheme | ABBACDDCEFFEGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111010101 1111011101 111011111 11101111 1111111101 110101101 01110101001 1101011101 1101011101 0111010101 1011111111 0111111101 1101110001 01011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 642 |
Words | 110 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 515 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 107 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 33 sec read
- 101 Views
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"Sonnet VIII. To Mercy" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34316/sonnet-viii.--to-mercy>.
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