Analysis of Self-Love

John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)



He that cannot choose but love,
And strives against it still,
Never shall my fancy move,
For he loves 'gainst his will;
Nor he which is all his own,
And can at pleasure choose,
When I am caught he can be gone,
And when he list refuse.
Nor he that loves none but fair,
For such by all are sought;
Nor he that can for foul ones care,
For his judgement then is nought;
Nor he that hath wit, for he
Will make me his jest or slave;
Nor a fool, for when others...,
He can neither....;
Nor he that still his Mistress pays,
For she is thralled therefore;
Nor he that pays not, for he says
Within She's worth no more.
Is there then no kind of men
Whom I may freely prove?
I will vent that humour then
In mine own self-love.


Scheme ABCBDEFEGHGHIJKLMNONPCPA
Poetic Form
Metre 1110111 010111 1011101 111111 1111111 011101 11111111 011101 1111111 111111 11111111 1110111 1111111 1111111 1011110 1110 11111101 11111 11111111 011111 1111111 111101 111111 01111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 699
Words 146
Sentences 7
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 24
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 538
Words per stanza (avg) 144
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

44 sec read
496

John Donne

John Donne was an English poet, satirist, lawyer and a cleric in the Church of England. more…

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