Analysis of A Maiden's Secret
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
I have written this day down in my heart
As the sweetest day in the season;
From all of the others I've set it apart---
But I will not tell you the reason,
That is my secret---I must not tell;
But the skies are soft and tender,
And never before, I know full well,
Was the earth so full of splendour.
I sing at my labour the whole day long,
And my heart is as light as a feather;
And there is a reason for my glad song
Besides the beautiful weather.
But I will not tell it to you; and though
That thrush in the maple heard it,
And would shout it aloud if he could, I know
He hasn't the power to word it.
Up, where I was sewing, this morn came one
Who told me the sweetest stories,
He said I had stolen my hair from the sun,
And my eyes from the morning glories.
Grandmother says that I must not believe
A word men say, for they flatter;
But I'm sure he would never try to deceive,
For he told me---but there---no matter!
Last night I was sad, and the world to me
Seemed a lonely and dreary dwelling,
But some one then had not asked me to be---
There now! I am almost telling.
Not another word shall my two lips say,
I will shut them fast together,
And never a mortal shall know to-day
Why my heart is as light as a feather.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EDEDFGFG BHBHIDID JKJKLDLD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110111011 101010010 11101011101 111111010 111101111 10111010 010011111 1011111 111110111 0111111010 0110101111 01010010 1111111101 11001011 01110111111 110010111 1111101111 11101010 11111011101 011101010 101111101 01111110 11111101101 111111110 1111100111 101001010 1111111111 1111110 1010111111 11111010 0100101111 1111111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,227 |
Words | 251 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 231 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 62 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:16 min read
- 77 Views
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"A Maiden's Secret" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 16 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10487/a-maiden%27s-secret>.
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