Analysis of Xviii
Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806 (Kelloe) – 1861 (Florence)
I never gave a lock of hair away
To a man, Dearest, except this to thee,
Which now upon my fingers thoughtfully,
I ring out to the full brown length and say
' Take it.' My day of youth went yesterday;
My hair no longer bounds to my foot's glee,
Nor plant I it from rose or myrtle-tree,
As girls do, any more: it only may
Now shade on two pale cheeks the mark of tears,
Taught drooping from the head that hangs aside
Through sorrow's trick. I thought the funeral-shears
Would take this first, but Love is justified,--
Take it thou,--finding pure, from all those years,
The kiss my mother left here when she died.
Scheme | ABBAABBACDEDFD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101011101 1011001111 1101110100 1111011101 111111110 1111011111 1111111101 1111011101 1111110111 1101011101 1111101001 111111110 1111011111 0111011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 606 |
Words | 121 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 468 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 116 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 134 Views
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"Xviii" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10429/xviii>.
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