Analysis of To One in Bedlam



With delicate, mad hands, behind his sordid bars,
Surely he hath his posies, which they tear and twine;
Those scentless wisps of straw, that miserably line
His strait, caged universe, whereat the dull world stares,

Pedant and pitiful. O, how his rapt gaze wars
With their stupidity! Know they what dreams divine
Lift his long, laughing reveries like enchanted wine,
And make his melancholy germane to the stars'?

O lamentable brother! if those pity thee,
Am I not fain of all thy lone eyes promise me;
Half a fool's kingdom, far from men who sow and reap,
All their days, vanity? Better than mortal flowers,
Thy moon-kissed roses seem: better than love or sleep,
The star-crowned solitude of thine oblivious hours!


Scheme ABBX XBBA CCDEDE
Poetic Form
Metre 110011011101 10111111101 11111110001 1111010111 10100111111 110100111101 1111010010101 01110001101 101001011101 111111111101 101101111101 1111001011010 111101101111 0111011010010
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 709
Words 123
Sentences 7
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 6
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 40
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 188
Words per stanza (avg) 40
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 06, 2023

37 sec read
150

Ernest Christopher Dowson

Ernest Christopher Dowson was born in 1867 at Lea in Kent England he was an English poet novelist and writer of short stories associated with the Decadent movement Most of his life was spent in France more…

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