Analysis of Ballade Against The Jesuits
Andrew Lang 1844 (Selkirk, Scottish Borders) – 1912 (Banchory)
Rome does right well to censure all the vain
Talk of Jansenius, and of them who preach
That earthly joys are damnable! 'Tis plain
We need not charge at Heaven as at a breach;
No, amble on! We'll gain it, one and all;
The narrow path's a dream fantastical,
And Arnauld's quite superfluously driven
Mirth from the world. We'll scale the heavenly wall,
Escobar makes a primrose path to heaven!
He does not hold a man may well be slain
Who vexes with unseasonable speech,
You MAY do murder for five ducats gain,
NOT for a pin, a ribbon, or a peach;
He ventures (most consistently) to teach
That there are certain cases that befall
When perjury need no good man appal,
And life of love (he says) may keep a leaven.
Sure, hearing this, a grateful world will bawl,
'Escobar makes a primrose path to heaven!'
'For God's sake read me somewhat in the strain
Of his most cheering volumes, I beseech!'
Why should I name them all? a mighty train -
So many, none may know the name of each.
Make these your compass to the heavenly beach,
These only in your library instal:
Burn Pascal and his fellows, great and small,
Dolts that in vain with Escobar have striven;
I tell you, and the common voice doth call,
Escobar makes a primrose path to heaven!
SATAN, that pride did hurry to thy fall,
Thou porter of the grim infernal hall -
Thou keeper of the courts of souls unshriven!
To shun thy shafts, to 'scape thy hellish thrall,
Escobar makes a primrose path to heaven!
Scheme | ababccdcD ababbccdcD ababbccdcD ccacD |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111110101 11101111 11011111 11111101101 1101111101 0101011 011110 11011101001 101011110 1111011111 11111 111101111 1101010101 1101010011 1111010101 110011111 01111111010 1101010111 101011110 1111111001 1111010101 1111110101 1101110111 11110101001 11001101 1010110101 1101110110 1110010111 101011110 1011110111 1101010101 110101111 1111111101 101011110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,433 |
Words | 273 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 10, 10, 5 |
Lines Amount | 34 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 282 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 67 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:22 min read
- 127 Views
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"Ballade Against The Jesuits" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/2749/ballade-against-the-jesuits>.
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