Analysis of The Origin of Trades



When with a skilful hand Prometheus  made
A statue that the human form displayed,
Pandora, his own work, to wed he chose,
And from those two the human race arose.
When first to know herself the fair began,
She played her smile's enchantment upon man;
By softness and alluring speech she gained
The ascendant, and her master soon enchained;
Her beauty on Prometheus' sense ne'er palled,
And the first husband was the first enthralled.
The god of war soon saw the new-formed fair;
His manly beauty and his martial air,
His golden casque and all his glittering arms
Pandora pleased, and he enjoyed her charms.
When the sea's ruler in his humid court
Had heard of this intrigue from fame's report,
The fair he sought, a like reception found,
Could Neptune fail where Mars a triumph found?
Day's light-haired god from his resplendent height
Their pleasures saw, and hoped the same delight;
She could not to refuse him have the heart,
Who o'er the day presides and every art.
Mercury with eloquence declared his flame,
And in his turn he triumphed o'er the dame.
Squalid and sooty from his forge, at first
Vulcan was ill-received, and gave disgust;
But he by importunity obtained
What other gods with so much ease had gained.
Pandora's prime thus winged with pleasure flew,
Then she in languor lived, nor wherefore knew.
She that devotes to love her life's first spring,
As years increase can do no other thing;
For e'en to gods inconstancy is known,
And those who dwell in heaven to change are prone.
Pandora of her favors had been free
To gods who left her; happening then to see
A satyr who through plains and meadows strayed,
Smit with his mien, she love-advances made.
To these amours our race existence owes,
From such amusements all mankind arose;
Hence those varieties in talents spring,
In genius, passions, business, everything:
To Vulcan one, to Mars one owes his birth,
This to a satyr; very few on earth
Claim any kindred with the god of day,
Few that celestial origin display.
From parents each his taste and turn derives:
But most of all trades now Pandora's thrives;
The most delightful, though least rare it seems,
And is the trade all Paris most esteems.


Scheme AABBCCDAAEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMNDDOOPPQQRRAABBPPSSTTUUVB
Poetic Form Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 1101111 011010101 0101111111 0111010101 1111010101 1101010011 1100010111 0010001011 01011111 0011010101 0111110111 1101001101 11010111001 0101010101 1011001101 1111011101 0111010101 1101110101 1111110101 1101010101 1111011101 110010101001 10011000111 00111101001 1001011111 1011010101 111101 1101111111 0101111101 11011111 1101110111 1101111101 11111010011 01110101111 0101010111 11110100111 01111011 1111110101 1111010101 1101011101 1101000101 010101010 1101111111 110110111 1101010111 1101010001 1101110101 1111110101 0101011111 010111011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 2,125
Words 380
Sentences 13
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 50
Lines Amount 50
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 1,715
Words per stanza (avg) 379
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 25, 2023

1:57 min read
189

Voltaire

François-Marie Arouet known by his nom de plume Voltaire was a French Enlightenment writer historian and philosopher famous for his wit his attacks on the established Catholic Church and his advocacy of freedom of religion freedom of expression and separation of church and state. more…

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