Analysis of River And Sea

Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919



Under the light of the silver moon
 We two sat, when our hearts were young;
The night was warm with the breath of June,
 And loud from the meadow the cricket sung,
And darker and deeper, oh, love, than the sea,
Were your dear eyes, as they beamed to me.

The moon hung clear, and the night was still:
 The waters reflected the glittering skies;
The nightingale sang on the distant hill;
 But sweeter than all was the light in your eyes -
Your dear, dark eyes,  your eyes like the sea -
And up from the depths shone love for me.

My heart, like a river, was mad and wild -
 And a river is not deep, like the sea;
But I said yout love was the love of a child,
 Compared with the love that was felt by me;
A river leaps noisily, kissing the land,
But the sea is fathomless, deep and grand.

I vowed to love you, for ever and ever!
 I called you cold, on that night in June,
But my fierce love, like a reckless river,
 Dashed on, and away, and was spent too soon;
While yours - ah, yours was deep like the sea;
I cheated you, love, but you died for me!


Scheme ABABCC DEDECC FCFCGG HAHACC
Poetic Form
Metre 100110101 111110101 011110111 011010101 01001011101 011111111 011100111 01001001001 0100110101 11011101011 111111101 011011111 1110101101 0010111101 11111101101 0110111111 01011001001 10111101 11111110010 111111101 1111101010 1100101111 111111101 1101111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,047
Words 212
Sentences 6
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 196
Words per stanza (avg) 53
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:03 min read
72

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet. more…

All Ella Wheeler Wilcox poems | Ella Wheeler Wilcox Books

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