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 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 17, 2023
- 45 sec read
- 126 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"A Tragedy" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8771/a-tragedy>.
Discuss this Edith Nesbit poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In