Analysis of The Radiant Dark

George Eliot 1819 (Nuneaton, Warwickshire) – 1880 (Chelsea, London)



Should I long that dark were fair? Say, O song.
Lacks my love aught that I should long?
Dark the night with breath all flow'rs
And tender broken voice that fills
With ravishment the list'ning hours.
Whis'prings, wooings,
Liquid ripples, and soft ring-dove cooings,
in low-toned rhythm that love's aching stills.

Dark the night, yet is she bright,
For in her dark she brings the mystic star,
Trembling yet strong as is the voice of love
From some unknown afar.
O radiant dark, O darkly foster'd ray,
Thou hast a joy too deep for shallow day.


Scheme AABBBBBB XCXCDD
Poetic Form
Metre 1111101111 11111111 1011111 01010111 1101110 11 101001111 0111011101 1011111 1001110101 10011110111 110101 11001110101 1101111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 535
Words 98
Sentences 8
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 6
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 30
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 211
Words per stanza (avg) 48
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 28, 2023

30 sec read
142

George Eliot

Mary Anne Evans, better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. more…

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    »
    Shall I compare thee to a summer's _______?
    A night
    B dream
    C day
    D ray