Analysis of To Mr. Rowland Woodward
John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)
LIKE one who in her third widowhood doth profess
Herself a nun, tied to retiredness,
So affects my Muse, now, a chaste fallowness.
Since she to few, yet to too many hath shown,
How love-song weeds and satiric thorns are grown,
Where seeds of better arts were early sown ;
Though to use and love poetry, to me,
Betroth'd to no one art, be no adultery ;
Omissions of good, ill, as ill deeds be.
For though to us it seems but light and thin,
Yet in those faithful scales, where God throws in
Men's works, vanity weighs as much as sin.
If our souls have stain'd their first white, yet we
May clothe them with faith, and dear honesty,
Which God imputes as native purity.
There is no virtue but religion.
Wise, valiant, sober, just, are names which none
Want, which want not vice-covering discretion.
Seek we then ourselves in ourselves ; for as
Men force the sun with much more force to pass,
By gathering his beams with a crystal glass,
So we—if we into ourselves will turn,
Blowing our spark of virtue—may out-burn
The straw which doth about our hearts sojourn.
You know physicians, when they would infuse
Into any oil the souls of simples, use
Places, where they may lie still warm, to choose.
So works retiredness in us. To roam
Giddily and be everywhere, but at home,
Such freedom doth a banishment become.
We are but farmers of ourselves, yet may,
If we can stock ourselves, and thrive, uplay
Much, much dear treasure for the great rent day.
Manure thyself then, to thyself be improved ;
And with vain outward things be no more moved,
But to know that I love thee and would be loved.
Scheme | AAA BBB CCC DDD CCC EEE XFF GGG HXH IIX JXJ KKX |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110011101 0101111 101111011 11111111011 11110010111 1111010101 1110110011 11111110100 0101111111 1111111101 1011011110 1110011111 11011111111 1111101100 111110100 111101010 1101011111 11111100010 111001000111 1101111111 11001110101 11110100111 10101110111 01110110110 1101011101 0110101111 1011111111 1110111 10110111 1101010001 11110100111 1111001011 1111010111 011111101 0111011111 11111110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,561 |
Words | 289 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 103 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 09, 2023
- 1:27 min read
- 146 Views
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"To Mr. Rowland Woodward" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22615/to-mr.-rowland-woodward>.
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