Analysis of Chi È?

Alfred Austin 1835 (Leeds) – 1913 (Ashford)



When for a buonamano
Cometh, at break of day,
Knock at the terzo piano,
A little voice answers, Chi è?
``I, the facchino, awaiting
The bounty of cara lei.''
She droppeth a paul through the grating,
And silently steals away.

When, with a long low mumble
Of lips that appear to pray,
There cometh a knock-so humble-
The little voice answers, Chi è?
``I, the poor monk.'' Just a little
She opens, but nought doth say;
Gives him baiocchi or victual,
And silently steals away.

But when, as the shadows longer
Stretch half athwart the way,
There cometh a knock, much stronger,
The little voice answers, Chi è?
And when I answer, Io!
No bolts nor bars delay;
But, with the wild whisper, Ah Dio!
We kiss, and we steal away.


Scheme abacdbdB ebeCebeB fbfCxbbb
Poetic Form
Metre 1101 101111 1101010 0101101 101010 0101101 11011010 0100101 1101110 1110111 11001110 0101101 10111010 1101111 11111 0100101 1110110 110101 11001110 0101101 0111010 111101 11011011 1101101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 703
Words 135
Sentences 11
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 181
Words per stanza (avg) 44
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

39 sec read
74

Alfred Austin

Alfred Austin DL was an English poet who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1896 upon the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. more…

All Alfred Austin poems | Alfred Austin Books

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