Analysis of Corinna
Jonathan Swift 1667 (Dublin) – 1745 (Ireland)
This day (the year I dare not tell)
Apollo play'd the midwife's part;
Into the world Corinna fell,
And he endued her with his art.
But Cupid with a Satyr comes;
Both softly to the cradle creep;
Both stroke her hands, and rub her gums,
While the poor child lay fast asleep.
Then Cupid thus: 'This little maid
Of love shall always speak and write;'
'And I pronounce,' the Satyr said,
'The world shall feel her scratch and bite.'
Her talent she display'd betimes;
For in a few revolving moons,
She seem'd to laugh and squall in rhymes,
And all her gestures were lampoons.
At six years old, the subtle jade
Stole to the pantry-door, and found
The butler with my lady's maid:
And you may swear the tale went round.
She made a song, how little miss
Was kiss'd and slobber'd by a lad:
And how, when master went to p—,
Miss came, and peep'd at all he had.
At twelve, a wit and a coquette;
Marries for love, half whore, half wife;
Cuckolds, elopes, and runs in debt;
Turns authoress, and is Curll's for life.
Her common-place book all gallant is,
Of scandal now a cornucopia;
She pours it out in Atalantis
Or memoirs of the New Utopia.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFXF CXXC EGEG XHXH BIXI XJCJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 11011111 0101011 0101101 01010111 1101011 11010101 11010101 10111101 11011101 1111101 0101011 01110101 0101011 10010101 11110101 0101001 11110101 11010101 01011101 01110111 11011101 1101101 01110111 11011111 1101001 10111111 1010101 1101111 010111101 110100100 111101 111010100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,105 |
Words | 215 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 107 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 101 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Corinna" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/24263/corinna>.
Discuss this Jonathan Swift poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In