Analysis of The Lady’s Lament

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



Never happy any more!
Aye, turn the saying o'er and o'er,
It says but what it said before,
And heart and life are just as sore.
The wet leaves blow aslant the floor
In the rain through the open door.
No, no more.
Never happy any more!
The eyes are weary and give o'er,
But still the soul weeps as before.
And always must each one deplore
Each once, nor bear what others bore?
This is now as it was of yore.
No, no more.
Never happy any more!
Is it not but a sorry lore
That says, “Take strength, the worst is o'er”?
Shall the stars seem as heretofore?
The day wears on more and more—
While I was weeping the day wore.
No, no more.
Never happy any more!
In the cold behind the door
That was the dial striking four:
One for joy the past hours bore,
Two for hope and will cast o'er,
One for the naked dark before.
No, no more.
Never happy any more!
Put the light out, shut the door,
Sweep the wet leaves from the floor.
Even thus Fate's hand has swept her floor,
Even thus Love's hand has shut the door
Through which his warm feet passed of yore.
Shall it be opened any more?
No, no, no more.


Scheme AbaaaaAAbaaaaAAabaaaAAaaabaAAaaaaaaa
Poetic Form
Metre 1010101 1101010010 11111101 01011111 0111101 00110101 111 1010101 011100110 11011101 0111101 11111101 11111111 111 1010101 11110101 111101110 1011101 0111101 11110011 111 1010101 0010101 11010101 11101101 11101110 11010101 111 1010101 1011101 1011101 101111101 101111101 11111111 11110101 1111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,098
Words 220
Sentences 23
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 36
Lines Amount 36
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 821
Words per stanza (avg) 218
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:08 min read
73

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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