Analysis of A Tragedy

Edith Nesbit 1858 (Kennington, Surrey ) – 1924 (New Romney, Kent)



Among his books he sits all day
To think and read and write;
He does not smell the new-mown hay,
The roses red and white.

I walk among them all alone,
His silly, stupid wife;
The world seems tasteless, dead and done -
An empty thing is life.

At night his window casts a square
Of light upon the lawn;
I sometimes walk and watch it there
Until the chill of dawn.

I have no brain to understand
The books he loves to read;
I only have a heart and hand
He does not seem to need.

He calls me "Child" - lays on my hair
Thin fingers, cold and mild;
Oh! God of Love, who answers prayer,
I wish I were a child!

And no one sees and no one knows
(He least would know or see),
That ere Love gathers next year's rose
Death will have gathered me.


Scheme ABAB XCXC DEDE FXFX DGDG HIHI
Poetic Form Quatrain  (83%)
Metre 01111111 110101 11110111 010101 11011101 110101 01110101 110111 11110101 110101 10110111 010111 1111101 011111 11010101 111111 11111111 110101 11111101 111001 01110111 111111 11110111 111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 717
Words 152
Sentences 8
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 93
Words per stanza (avg) 25
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 17, 2023

45 sec read
126

Edith Nesbit

Edith Nesbit (married name Edith Bland) was an English author and poet; she published her books for children under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on more than 60 books of children's literature. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a socialist organisation later affiliated to the Labour Party. more…

All Edith Nesbit poems | Edith Nesbit Books

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