Analysis of Love's Diet
John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)
To what a cumbersome unwieldiness
And burdenous corpulence my love had grown,
But that I did, to make it less,
And keep it in proportion,
Give it a diet, made it feed upon
That which love worst endures, discretion
Above one sigh a day I allow'd him not,
Of which my fortune, and my faults had part ;
And if sometimes by stealth he got
A she sigh from my mistress' heart,
And thought to feast upon that, I let him see
'Twas neither very sound, nor meant to me.
If he wrung from me a tear, I brined it so
With scorn and shame, that him it nourish'd not ;
If he suck'd hers, I let him know
'Twas not a tear which he had got ;
His drink was counterfeit, as was his meat ;
For eyes, which roll towards all, weep not, but sweat.
Whatever he would dictate I writ that,
But burnt her letters when she writ to me ;
And if that favour made him fat,
I said, 'If any title be
Convey'd by this, ah ! what doth it avail,
To be the fortieth name in an entail?'
Thus I reclaim'd my buzzard love, to fly
At what, and when, and how, and where I choose.
Now negligent of sports I lie,
And now, as other falconers use,
I spring a mistress, swear, write, sigh, and weep ;
And the game kill'd, or lost, go talk or sleep.
Scheme | XXXAXA BCBCDD EBEBXX FDFDGG HXHXII |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (23%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1101000100 0111111 11111111 0110010 1101011101 111101010 01110110111 1111001111 01011111 01111101 01110111111 1101011111 11111011111 1101111101 11101111 11011111 111101111 11110111111 101101111 1101011111 0111111 11110101 0111111101 11010010101 1101110111 1101010111 11001111 011101001 1101011101 0011111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,191 |
Words | 240 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 179 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 49 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 20, 2023
- 1:13 min read
- 115 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Love's Diet" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22550/love%27s-diet>.
Discuss this John Donne poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In