Analysis of La Figlia Che Piange

T. S. Eliot 1888 (St. Louis, Missouri, United States) – 1965 (Kensington)



O quam te memorem virgo

Stand on the highest pavement of the stair—
Lean on a garden urn—
Weave, weave the sunlight in your hair—
Clasp your flowers to you with a pained surprise—
Fling them to the ground and turn     
With a fugitive resentment in your eyes:
But weave, weave the sunlight in your hair.

So I would have had him leave,
So I would have had her stand and grieve,
So he would have left        
As the soul leaves the body torn and bruised,
As the mind deserts the body it has used.
I should find
Some way incomparably light and deft,
Some way we both should understand,        
Simple and faithless as a smile and shake of the hand.

She turned away, but with the autumn weather
Compelled my imagination many days,
Many days and many hours:
Her hair over her arms and her arms full of flowers.
And I wonder how they should have been together!
I should have lost a gesture and a pose.
Sometimes these cogitations still amaze
The troubled midnight and the noon's repose.


Scheme X ABACBCA DDEFFXEGG HIJJHKIK
Poetic Form Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 111110 1101010101 110101 1101011 11101110101 1110101 10100010011 11101011 1111111 111110101 11111 1011010101 10110010111 111 1101000101 1111101 100110101101 11011101010 0110010101 10101010 0110010011110 011011111010 1111010001 0111101 010100101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 966
Words 180
Sentences 7
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 1, 7, 9, 8
Lines Amount 25
Letters per line (avg) 30
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 189
Words per stanza (avg) 45
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Submitted by halel on July 13, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

54 sec read
18

T. S. Eliot

Thomas Stearns Eliot OM was an American-British poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, to a prominent Boston Brahmin family, he moved to England in 1914 at the age of 25 and went on to settle, work and marry there. more…

All T. S. Eliot poems | T. S. Eliot Books

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