A Thousand Martyrs
A Thousand Martyrs
This assignment is about A Thousand Martyrs I Have Made’ by Aphra Behn who
describes the opulent life of a speaker who consumes everyone and everything around
her/his. I will analyze the elements of this poem, the poetic meter, plot, characters,
events, theme, tone, symbols and sound.
1. Poetic meter:
A thousand martyrs I have made,
All sacrificed to my desire;
A thousand beauties have betrayed,
That languish in resistless fire.
The untamed heart to hand I brought,
And fixed the wild and wandering thought.
In the second stanza, the speaker states that no move she made was done in “vain.” She
did not waste a single word. They were all well “received” by those who would become
her martyrs. In the second half, she explains how the “fair” does not have to wait long
for their wishes to be granted. People will do whatever they can to please the most
beautiful in society.
In the final stanza, she relishes in the fact that she has not had to put out any effort to get
what she has. She can carry away her earnings, laughing as she does. There were no
pains of hell, only joys of heaven. [ CITATION Emm20 \l 18442 ]
3. Characters: A thousand martyrs and the person (female or male) who is talking
about.
4. Events: This poem presented with a libertine person talking of many lovers. He/she
suggests that, though he/she has spoken about the pain of love, in fact it is only ‘Love’s
pleasures’ that he cares about. As such, he has ‘betrayed’ ‘a thousand beauties’. He/she
claims to have been a callous and deceiving lover, telling ‘the fair’ about the ‘wounds
and smart’ they long to hear of, then ‘laughing’ and leaving. In the final stanza begins
with ‘Alone’. The poet claims to be ‘Without the hell’ of love, yet in the same line we
find reference to the ‘heaven of joy’.
7. Symbol: A promiscuous person who wants to wish all his/her desires and pleasure. A
thousand martyrs represent all the people who work for her/his and all the libertine love
´s pleasures.
8. Sounds:
Made – betrayed
Brough – though
Vain – pain
Received – believed
Smart – heart
Spoil - toil
Rove – love