Analysis of Modern Love XXXVI: My Lady unto Madam

George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)



My Lady unto Madam makes her bow.
The charm of women is, that even while
You're probed by them for tears, you yet may smile,
Nay, laugh outright, as I have done just now.
The interview was gracious: they anoint
(To me aside) each other with fine praise:
Discriminating compliments they raise,
That hit with wondrous aim on the weak point:
My Lady's nose of Nature might complain.
It is not fashioned aptly to express
Her character of large-browed steadfastness.
But Madam says: Thereof she may be vain!
Now, Madam's faulty feature is a glazed
And inaccessible eye, that has soft fires,
Wide gates, at love-time only. This admires
My Lady. At the two I stand amazed.


Scheme ABBACDDCEFGEHIJH
Poetic Form
Metre 1101010101 0111011101 1111111111 1111111111 010110101 1101110111 010010011 1111011011 1101110101 1111010101 010011110 110111111 111010101 00100111110 1111110101 1101011101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 673
Words 119
Sentences 9
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 520
Words per stanza (avg) 117
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
116

George Meredith

George Meredith was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times. more…

All George Meredith poems | George Meredith Books

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