Analysis of A Crushed Leaf
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
An hour ago when the wind blew high
At my lady's window a red leaf beat.
Then dropped at her door, where, passing by,
She carelessly trod it under her feet.
I have taken it out of the dust and dirt,
With a tender pity but half defined.
Ah! poor bruised leaf, with your stain and hurt,
'A fellow-feeling doth make us kind.'
On winds of passion my heart was blown,
Like an autumn leaf one hapless day.
At my lady's window with tap and moan
It burned and fluttered its life away.
Bright with the blood of its wasting tide
It glowed in the sun of her laughing eyes.
What cared she though a stray heart died -
What to her were its sobs and sighs.
The winds of passion were spent at last,
And my heart like the leaf in her pathway lay;
And under her slender foot as she passed,
My lady she trod it and went her way.
So I picked the leaf from its dusty place,
With a tender pity -too well defined.
And I laid it here in this velvet case,
Ah! a fellow-feeling doth make us kind.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IFIF JDJD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1100110111 1110100111 111011101 1100111001 11101110101 1010101101 111111101 010101111 111101111 111011101 1110101101 110101101 110111101 1100110101 11110111 11001101 011100111 0111010011 0100101111 1101110101 1110111101 1010101101 0111101101 1010101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 962 |
Words | 200 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 124 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 28, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 17 Views
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