Analysis of Upon Over-Much Niceness
John Bunyan 1628 (Elstow, Bedfordshire) – 1688 (London)
Tis much to see how over nice some are
About the body and household affair,
While what's of worth they slightly pass it by,
Not doing, or doing it slovenly.
Their house must be well furnished, be in print,
Meanwhile their soul lies ley, has no good in't.
Its outside also they must beautify,
When in it there's scarce common honesty.
Their bodies they must have tricked up and trim,
Their inside full of filth up to the brim.
Upon their clothes there must not be a spot,
But is their lives more than one common blot.
How nice, how coy are some about their diet,
That can their crying souls with hogs'-meat quiet.
All drest must to a hair be, else 'tis naught,
While of the living bread they have no thought.
Thus for their outside they are clean and nice,
While their poor inside stinks with sin and vice.
Scheme | ABCDEDCDFFGGHHIIJJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111110111 010100101 1111110111 1101101100 1111110101 1111111101 111101110 1011110100 1101111101 1011111101 0111111101 1111111101 11111101110 11110111110 1111011111 1101011111 1111111101 1110111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 796 |
Words | 153 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 18 |
Lines Amount | 18 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 627 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 151 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 47 sec read
- 62 Views
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"Upon Over-Much Niceness" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22165/upon-over-much-niceness>.
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