Analysis of To His Mistress
Ernest Christopher Dowson 1867 – 1900
There comes an end to summer,
To spring showers and hoar rime;
His mumming to each mummer
Has somewhere end in time,
And since life ends and laughter,
And leaves fall and tears dry,
Who shall call love immortal,
When all that is must die?
Nay, sweet, let's leave unspoken
The vows the fates gainsay,
For all vows made are broken,
We love but while we may.
Let's kiss when kissing pleases,
And part when kisses pall,
Perchance, this time to-morrow,
We shall not love at all.
You ask my love completest,
As strong next year as now,
The devil take you, sweetest,
Ere I make aught such vow.
Life is a masque that changes,
A fig for constancy!
No love at all were better,
Than love which is not free.
Scheme | ABABACXC DXDBXXXX EFEFXGAG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111110 1110011 11111 11101 0111010 011011 1111010 111111 1111010 01011 1111110 111111 1111010 011101 0111110 111111 11111 111111 0101110 111111 1101110 011100 1111010 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 680 |
Words | 133 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 179 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 44 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 40 sec read
- 50 Views
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"To His Mistress" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/12821/to-his-mistress>.
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