Analysis of Syrinx

John Lyly 1553 (Canterbury) – 1606 (London)



Pan's Syrinx was a girl indeed,
Though now she's turned into a reed;
From that dear reed Pan's pipe does come,
A pipe that strikes Apollo dumb;
Nor flute, nor lute, nor gittern can
So chant it as the pipe of Pan:
Cross-gartered swains and dairy girls,
With faces smug and round as pearls,
When Pan's shrill pipe begins to play,
With dancing wear out night and day;
The bagpipe's drone his hum lays by,
When Pan sounds up his minstrelsy;
His minstrelsy! O base! this quill,
Which at my mouth with wind I fill,
Puts me in mind, though her I miss,
That still my Syrinx' lips I kiss.


Scheme AABBCCDDEEFDGGHH
Poetic Form
Metre 1110101 11110101 11111111 01110101 1111111 11110111 1110101 11010111 11110111 11011101 0111111 111111 111111 11111111 11011011 1111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 572
Words 112
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 443
Words per stanza (avg) 110
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 25, 2023

35 sec read
123

John Lyly

John Lyly was an English writer, poet, dramatist, playwright, and politician, best known for his books Euphues, The Anatomy of Wit and Euphues and His England. more…

All John Lyly poems | John Lyly Books

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    "Syrinx" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23750/syrinx>.

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