Analysis of An Epitaph on Doctor Donne, Dean of St. Paul's
Richard Corbet 1582 (England) – 1635
He that would write an epitaph for thee,
And do it well, must first begin to be
Such as thou wert; for none can truly know
Thy worth, thy life, but he that hath lived so.
He must have wit to spare, and to hurl down;
Enough to keep the gallants of the town.
He must have learning plenty; both the laws,
Civil and common, to judge any cause;
Divinity, great store above the rest,
Not of the last edition, but the best.
He must have language, travel, all the arts,
Judgment to use, or else he want thy parts.
He must have friends the highest, able to do,
Such as Maecenas, and Augustus too.
He must have such a sickness, such a death,
Or else his vain descriptions come beneath.
Who then shall write an epitaph for thee,
He must be dead first! Let it alone, for me.
Scheme | AABBCCDEFFGGHHIJAA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111011 0111110111 1111111101 1111111111 1111110111 011101101 1111010101 1001011101 0100110101 1101010101 1111010101 1011111111 11110101011 11100101 1111010101 1111010101 111111011 11111110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 770 |
Words | 151 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 18 |
Lines Amount | 18 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 581 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 149 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 45 sec read
- 105 Views
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"An Epitaph on Doctor Donne, Dean of St. Paul's" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/30035/an-epitaph-on-doctor-donne%2C-dean-of-st.-paul%27s>.
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