Analysis of Friendship
Henry David Thoreau 1817 (Concord) – 1862 (Concord)
I think awhile of Love, and while I think,
Love is to me a world,
Sole meat and sweetest drink,
And close connecting link
Tween heaven and earth.
I only know it is, not how or why,
My greatest happiness;
However hard I try,
Not if I were to die,
Can I explain.
I fain would ask my friend how it can be,
But when the time arrives,
Then Love is more lovely
Than anything to me,
And so I'm dumb.
For if the truth were known, Love cannot speak,
But only thinks and does;
Though surely out 'twill leak
Without the help of Greek,
Or any tongue.
A man may love the truth and practise it,
Beauty he may admire,
And goodness not omit,
As much as may befit
To reverence.
But only when these three together meet,
As they always incline,
And make one soul the seat,
And favorite retreat,
Of loveliness;
When under kindred shape, like loves and hates
And a kindred nature,
Proclaim us to be mates,
Exposed to equal fates
Eternally;
And each may other help, and service do,
Drawing Love's bands more tight,
Service he ne'er shall rue
While one and one make two,
And two are one;
In such case only doth man fully prove
Fully as man can do,
What power there is in Love
His inmost soul to move
Resistlessly.
Two sturdy oaks I mean, which side by side,
Withstand the winter's storm,
And spite of wind and tide,
Grow up the meadow's pride,
For both are strong
Above they barely touch, but undermined
Down to their deepest source,
Admiring you shall find
Their roots are intertwined
Insep'rably.
Scheme | AXAAX BCBBX DXDDX EXEEX FXFFX GXGGC HXHHD IXIIX JIXJK LXLLX MXMMK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (29%) |
Metre | 1101110111 111101 110101 010101 11001 1101111111 110100 10111 111011 1101 1111111111 110101 111110 11011 0111 1101011101 110101 110111 010111 1101 011101011 101101 010101 111101 1100 1101110101 11101 011101 010001 11 1101011101 001010 011111 011101 0100 0111010101 101111 101111 110111 0111 0111011101 101111 1101101 11111 1 1101111111 010101 011101 11011 1111 011101101 111101 010111 111001 1 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,490 |
Words | 280 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 55 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 104 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 1:25 min read
- 563 Views
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"Friendship" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17324/friendship>.
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