Analysis of A Tale of the Miser and the Poet
Anne Kingsmill Finch 1661 – 1720 (Westminster)
A WIT, transported with Inditing,
Unpay'd, unprais'd, yet ever Writing;
Who, for all Fights and Fav'rite Friends,
Had Poems at his Fingers Ends;
For new Events was still providing;
Yet now desirous to be riding,
He pack'd-up ev'ry Ode and Ditty
And in Vacation left the City;
So rapt with Figures, and Allusions,
With secret Passions, sweet Confusions;
With Sentences from Plays well-known,
And thousand Couplets of his own;
That ev'n the chalky Road look'd gay,
And seem'd to him the Milky Way.
But Fortune, who the Ball is tossing,
And Poets ever will be crossing,
Misled the Steed, which ill he guided,
Where several gloomy Paths divided.
The steepest in Descent he follow'd,
Enclos'd by Rocks, which Time had hollow'd;
Till, he believ'd, alive and booted,
He'd reach'd the Shades by Homer quoted.
But all, that he cou'd there discover,
Was, in a Pit with Thorns grown over,
Old Mammon digging, straining, sweating,
As Bags of Gold he thence was getting;
Who, when reprov'd for such Dejections
By him, who liv'd on high Reflections,
Reply'd; Brave Sir, your Time is ended,
And Poetry no more befriended.
I hid this Coin, when Charles was swaying;
When all was Riot, Masking, Playing;
When witty Beggars were in fashion,
And Learning had o'er-run the Nation,
But, since Mankind is so much wiser,
That none is valued like the Miser,
I draw it hence, and now these Sums
In proper Soil grow up to {1} Plumbs;
Which gather'd once, from that rich Minute
We rule the World, and all that's in it.
But, quoth the Poet,can you raise,
As well as Plumb-trees, Groves of Bays?
Where you, which I wou'd chuse much rather,
May Fruits of Reputation gather?
Will Men of Quality, and Spirit,
Regard you for intrinsick Merit?
And seek you out, before your Betters,
For Conversation, Wit, and Letters?
Fool, quoth the Churl, who knew no Breeding;
Have these been Times for such Proceeding?
Instead of Honour'd, and Rewarded,
Are you not Slighted, or Discarded?
What have you met with, but Disgraces?
Your PRIOR cou'd not keep in Places;
And your VAN-BRUG had found no Quarter,
But for his dabbling in the Morter.
ROWE no Advantages cou'd hit on,
Till Verse he left, to write North-Briton.
PHILIPS, who's by the Shilling known,
Ne'er saw a Shilling of his own.
Meets {2} PHILOMELA, in the Town
Her due Proportion of Renown?
What Pref'rence has ARDELIA seen,
T'expel, tho' she cou'd write the Spleen?
Of Coach, or Tables, can you brag,
Or better Cloaths than Poet RAG?
Do wealthy Kindred, when they meet you,
With Kindness, or Distinction, greet you?
Or have your lately flatter'd Heroes
Enrich'd you like the Roman Maroes?
No–quoth the Man of broken Slumbers:
Yet we have Patrons for our Numbers;
There are Mecænas's among 'em.
Quoth Mammon,pray Sir, do not wrong 'em;
But in your Censures use a Conscience,
Nor charge Great Men with thriftless Nonsense:
Since they, as your own Poets sing,
Now grant no Worth in any thing
But so much Money as 'twill bring.
Then, never more from your Endeavours
Expect Preferment, or less Favours.
But if you'll 'scape Contempt, or worse,
Be sure, put Money in your Purse;
Money! which only can relieve you
When Fame and Friendship will deceive you.
Sir, (quoth the Poet humbly bowing,
And all that he had said allowing)
Behold me and my airy Fancies
Subdu'd, like Giants in Romances.
I here submit to your Discourses;
Which since Experience too enforces,
I, in that solitary Pit,
Your Gold withdrawn, will hide my Wit:
Till Time, which hastily advances,
And gives to all new Turns and Chances,
Again may bring it into use;
Roscommons may again produce;
New Augustean Days revive,
When Wit shall please, and Poets thrive.
Till when, let those converse in private,
Who taste what others don't arrive at;
Yielding that Mammonists surpass us;
And let the Bank out-swell Parnassus.
Scheme | AABBAACCDDEEAXAAFFGGHHIIAABDFH AAJJIIXBKL MMIIKKNN AAHHBOIIXJEEPPQQAARR XB BNS SXXAAABBTTRR AAXUUULLOOVVWWKXXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101011 1111010 1111011 11011101 110111010 110101110 11111010 000101010 111100010 110101010 11001111 0101111 11101111 01110101 110101110 010101110 010111110 110101010 010001110 011111110 110101010 110111010 111111010 100111110 11101010 111111110 111111 111111010 11111110 010011010 111111110 111101010 110100010 0101101010 111111110 111101010 11110111 01011111 110111110 110101101 110111 11111111 111111110 11101010 111100010 0111110 011101110 10101010 110111110 111111010 01110010 111101010 1111111 110111010 011111110 1111000010 110100111 111111110 10110101 11010111 1010001 01010101 11101001 101111101 11110111 11011101 110101111 110101011 111101010 01110101 11011101 1111011010 1111011 1111111 10111010 11111110 11111101 11110101 11110111 1101111 011111 11110111 11110011 101101011 110101011 110101010 011111010 011011010 011100010 110111010 1101001010 1011001 11011111 111100010 011111010 01111011 110101 11101 11110101 111110010 111101011 1011011 01011110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,807 |
Words | 657 |
Sentences | 29 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 30, 10, 8, 20, 2, 3, 12, 18 |
Lines Amount | 103 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 366 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 82 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:28 min read
- 104 Views
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