Analysis of To a False Friend
Louisa Stuart Costello 1799 – 1870
Adieu!—'tis past—the dream is over,
And we are friends no more;
And now my task shall be to smother
Thoughts prized too well before—
That we have ever loved or met,
All, but our parting, to forget.
Thou, the first friend my heart had chosen—
Whose wish, whose hope was mine,
Farewell!—the once warm vows are frozen
That lured my fate to thine:
Each link of that bright chain is gone
That bound our mutual hearts in one.
I will not blame my soul's believing,
That ne'er thy faults could see;
The error was thy own deceiving,
Not mine, who trusted thee:
This heart can never learn to fear
Deceit in one it holds so dear.
How could I hear, without relying,
Thy lute's wild melody,
Though false as Echo's voice replying
To some lone wand'rer's cry—
Unworthy as the scentless flower,
Whose beauty is its only dower?
Of all the moments since our meeting,
When both seem'd fond and true,
Now thou art cold as they were fleeting,
Be this my last review:
No more—our hearts, our fates must sever,
And I erase thy name for ever!
Scheme | ABABCC DEDEXD FGFGHH FGFXAX FIFIAA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (37%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 011101110 011111 011111110 111101 11110111 111010101 101111110 111111 10111110 111111 11111111 1110100101 111111010 111111 010111010 111101 11110111 01011111 111101010 111100 111101010 11111 01010110 11011101 1101011010 111101 111111010 11111 11101101110 010111110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,042 |
Words | 192 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 157 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 38 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 83 Views
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