Analysis of Lament IX
Jan Kochanowski 1530 (Sycyna Północna) – 1584 (Lublin)
Thou shouldst be purchased, Wisdom, for much gold
If all they say of thee is truly told:
That thou canst root out from the mind the host
Of longings and canst change a man almost
Into an angel whom no grief can sap,
Who is not prone to fear nor evil hap.
Thou seest all things human as they are -
Trifles. Thou bearest in thy breast a star
Fixed and tranquil, and dost contemplate
Death unafraid, still calm, inviolate.
Of riches, one thing thou dost hold the measure:
Proportion to man's needs - not gold nor treasure;
Thy searching eyes have power to behold
The beggar housed beneath the roof of gold,
Nor dost thou grudge the poor man fame as blest
If he but hearken him to thy behest.
Oh, hapless, hapless man am I, who sought
If I might gain thy thresholds by much thought,
Cast down from thy last steps after so long,
But one amid the countless, hopeless throng!
Scheme | AABBCCDDEFGGAAHHIIJJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) Etheree (20%) |
Metre | 1111010111 1111111101 1111110101 110011011 0111011111 1111111101 111110111 101101101 10100110 101110100 11011111010 01011111110 1101110101 0101010111 1111011111 111111101 1101011111 111111111 1111111011 1101010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 849 |
Words | 164 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 20 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 680 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 164 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 49 sec read
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"Lament IX" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/55752/lament-ix>.
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