Analysis of Fading*
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
She sits beside the window. All who pass
Turn once again to gaze on her sweet face.
She is so fair; but soon, too soon, alas,
To lie down in her last resting-place.
No gems are brighter than her sparkling eyes,
Her brow like polished marble, white and fair -
Her cheeks are glowing as the sunset skies -
You would not dream that Death was lurking there.
But, Oh! he lingers closely at her side,
And when the forest dons her Autumn dress,
We know that he will claim her as his bride,
And earth will number one fair spirit less.
She sees the meadow robed in richest green -
The laughing stream - the willows bending o'er.
With tear-dimmed eyes she views each sylvan scene,
And thinks earth never was so fair before.
We do not sigh for heaven, till we have known
Something of sorrow, something of grief and woe,
And as a summer day her life has flown.
Oh, can we wonder she is loth to go?
She has no friends in heaven: all are here.
No lost one waits her in that unknown land,
And life grows doubly, trebly sweet and dear
As day by day she nears the mystic strand.
We love her and we grieve to see her go.
But it is Christ who calls her to His breast,
And He shall greet her, and she soon shall know
The joys of souls that dwell among the blest.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GXGX HIHI XJXJ IKIK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (86%) |
Metre | 1101010111 1101111011 1111111101 111001101 1111010101 0111010101 011101011 1111111101 1111010101 0101010101 1111110111 0111011101 110110101 0101011010 1111111101 0111011101 11111101111 10110101101 0101010111 1111011111 1111010111 1111001011 011101101 1111110101 1100111101 1111110111 0111001111 0111110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,248 |
Words | 247 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 137 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 35 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:14 min read
- 115 Views
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"Fading*" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10600/fading%2A>.
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