Analysis of A Child Asleep
Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806 (Kelloe) – 1861 (Florence)
How he sleepeth! having drunken
Weary childhood's mandragore,
From his pretty eyes have sunken
Pleasures, to make room for more---
Sleeping near the withered nosegay, which he pulled the day before.
Nosegays! leave them for the waking:
Throw them earthward where they grew.
Dim are such, beside the breaking
Amaranths he looks unto---
Folded eyes see brighter colours than the open ever do.
Heaven-flowers, rayed by shadows golden
From the paths they sprang beneath,
Now perhaps divinely holden,
Swing against him in a wreath---
We may think so from the quickening of his bloom and of his breath.
Vision unto vision calleth,
While the young child dreameth on.
Fair, O dreamer, thee befalleth
With the glory thou hast won!
Darker wert thou in the garden, yestermorn, by summer sun.
We should see the spirits ringing
Round thee,---were the clouds away.
'Tis the child-heart draws them, singing
In the silent-seeming clay---
Singing!---Stars that seem the mutest, go in music all the way.
As the moths around a taper,
As the bees around a rose,
As the gnats around a vapour,---
So the Spirits group and close
Round about a holy childhood, as if drinking its repose.
Shapes of brightness overlean thee,---
Flash their diadems of youth
On the ringlets which half screen thee,---
While thou smilest, . . . not in sooth
Thy smile . . . but the overfair one, dropt from some aethereal mouth.
Haply it is angels' duty,
During slumber, shade by shade:
To fine down this childish beauty
To the thing it must be made,
Ere the world shall bring it praises, or the tomb shall see it fade.
Softly, softly! make no noises!
Now he lieth dead and dumb---
Now he hears the angels' voices
Folding silence in the room---
Now he muses deep the meaning of the Heaven-words as they come.
Speak not! he is consecrated---
Breathe no breath across his eyes.
Lifted up and separated,
On the hand of God he lies,
In a sweetness beyond touching---held in cloistral sanctities.
Could ye bless him---father---mother ?
Bless the dimple in his cheek?
Dare ye look at one another,
And the benediction speak?
Would ye not break out in weeping, and confess yourselves too weak?
He is harmless---ye are sinful,---
Ye are troubled---he, at ease:
From his slumber, virtue winful
Floweth outward with increase---
Dare not bless him! but be blessed by his peace---and go in peace.
Scheme | ABABB CBCDD AEAEX EXEAA CFCFF BGBXG HXHEX HIHII XJXXJ KLKLG BMBMM NXNOO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (25%) |
Metre | 1111010 1011 11101110 1011111 10101011110101 1111010 111111 11101010 11110 10111011010101 101011110 1011101 10101010 1011001 1111101001110111 1010101 101111 111011 1010111 1011001011101 11101010 1100101 10111110 0010101 10111011010101 10101010 1010101 1010101 1010101 10101011110101 111011 11111 1011111 111101 11101111111 1111010 1010111 11111010 1011111 101111101011111 10101110 111101 11101010 1010001 1110101010101111 1111100 1110111 1010100 1011111 001001101011 11111010 1010011 11111010 000101 111110100010111 11101110 1110111 1110101 110101 11111111110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,759 |
Words | 402 |
Sentences | 34 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 60 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 150 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 2:01 min read
- 452 Views
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"A Child Asleep" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10207/a-child-asleep>.
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