Analysis of Modern Love XLVII: We Saw the Swallows
George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)
We saw the swallows gathering in the sky,
And in the osier-isle we heard them noise.
We had not to look back on summer joys,
Or forward to a summer of bright dye:
But in the largeness of the evening earth
Our spirits grew as we went side by side.
The hour became her husband and my bride.
Love that had robbed us so, thus blessed our dearth!
The pilgrims of the year waxed very loud
In multitudinous chatterings, as the flood
Full brown came from the West, and like pale blood
Expanded to the upper crimson cloud.
Love that had robbed us of immortal things,
This little moment mercifully gave,
Where I have seen across the twilight wave
The swan sail with her young beneath her wings.
Scheme | ABBACDDCEFFEGHHG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010100001 000111111 1111111101 1101010111 1001010101 10101111111 01001010011 11111111101 0101011101 011101 1111010111 0101010101 1111110101 1101010001 111101011 0111010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 692 |
Words | 130 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 542 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 128 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 39 sec read
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"Modern Love XLVII: We Saw the Swallows" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 22 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15527/modern-love-xlvii%3A-we-saw-the-swallows>.
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