Analysis of The Fairy Goldsmith
Elinor Morton Wylie 1885 (Somerville, New Jersey) – 1928 (New York City, New York)
Here's a wonderful thing,
A humming-bird's wing
In hammered gold,
And store well chosen
Of snowflakes frozen
In crystal cold.
Black onyx cherries
And mistletoe berries
Of chrysoprase,
Jade buds, tight shut,
All carven and cut
In intricate ways.
Here, if you please
Are little gilt bees
In amber drops
Which look like honey,
Translucent and sunny,
From clover-tops.
Here's an elfin girl
Of mother-of-pearl
And moonshine made,
With tortise-shell hair
Both dusky and fair
In its light and shade.
Here's lacquer laid thin,
Like a scarlet skin
On an ivory fruit;
And a filigree frost
Of frail notes lost
From a fairy lute.
Here's a turquoise chain
Of sun-shower rain
To wear if you wish;
And glittering green
With aquamarine,
A silvery fish.
Here are pearls all strung
On a thread among
Pretty pink shells;
And bubbles blown
From the opal stone
Which ring like bells.
Touch them and take them,
But do not break them!
Beneath your hand
They will wither like foam
If you carry them home
Out of fairy-lannd.
O, they never can last
Though you hide them fast
From moth and from rust;
In your monstrous day
They will crumble away
Into quicksilver dust.
Scheme | AABCCB DDDEEX DDFGGF HHIJJI KKLMML NNOPPO QQRSSR TTXUUB VVWXXW |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101001 01011 0101 01110 1110 0101 11010 01010 11 1111 1101 01001 1111 11011 0101 11110 010010 1101 11101 11011 011 1111 1101 01101 11011 10101 111001 00101 1111 10101 10101 11101 11111 01001 1001 01001 11111 10101 1011 0101 10101 1111 11011 11111 0111 111011 111011 11101 111011 11111 11011 01101 111001 011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic dimeter |
Characters | 1,141 |
Words | 201 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 54 |
Letters per line (avg) | 17 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 100 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 01, 2023
- 1:01 min read
- 99 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Fairy Goldsmith" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10177/the-fairy-goldsmith>.
Discuss this Elinor Morton Wylie 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