Analysis of Sonnet XXVII: Heart's Compass

Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828 (London) – 1882 (Birchington-on-Sea)



Sometimes thou seem'st not as thyself alone,
But as the meaning of all things that are;
A breathless wonder, shadowing forth afar
Some heavenly solstice hushed and halcyon;
Whose unstirred lips are music's visible tone;
Whose eyes the sun-gate of the soul unbar,
Being of its furthest fires oracular;—
The evident heart of all life sown and mown.
Even such Love is; and is not thy name Love?
Yea, by thy hand the Love-god rends apart
All gathering clouds of Night's ambiguous art;
Flings them far down, and sets thine eyes above;
And simply, as some gage of flower or glove,
Stakes with a smile the world against thy heart.


Scheme ABBCABBADEEDDE
Poetic Form
Metre 0111111101 1101011111 01010100101 11001010100 1111101001 110111011 101110101 01001111101 10111011111 1111011101 110011101001 1111011101 01011111011 1101010111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 620
Words 113
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 491
Words per stanza (avg) 110
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 21, 2023

34 sec read
71

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. more…

All Dante Gabriel Rossetti poems | Dante Gabriel Rossetti Books

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