Analysis of Benedetta Ramus
Andrew Lang 1844 (Selkirk, Scottish Borders) – 1912 (Banchory)
Mysterious Benedetta! who
That Reynolds or that Romney drew
Was ever half so fair as you,
Or is so well forgot?
These eyes of melancholy brown,
These woven locks, a shadowy crown,
Must surely have bewitched the town;
Yet you're remembered not.
Through all that prattle of your age,
Through lore of fribble and of sage
I've read, and chiefly Walpole's page,
Wherein are beauties famous;
I've haunted ball, and rout, and sale;
I've heard of Devonshire and Thrale,
And all the Gunnings' wondrous tale,
But nothing of Miss Ramus.
And yet on many a lattice pane
'Fair Benedetta,' scrawled in vain
By lovers' diamonds, must remain
To tell us you were cruel.
But who, of all that sighed and swore -
Wits, poets, courtiers by the score -
Did win and on his bosom wore
This hard and lovely jewel?
Why, dilettante records say
An Alderman, who came that way,
Woo'd you and made you Lady Day;
You crowned his civic flame.
It suits a melancholy song
To think your heart had suffered wrong,
And that you lived not very long
To be a City dame!
Perchance you were a Mourning Bride,
And conscious of a heart that died
With one who fell by Rodney's side
In blood-stained Spanish bays.
Perchance 'twas no such thing, and you
Dwelt happy with your knight and true,
And, like Aurora, watched a crew
Of rosy little Days!
Oh, lovely face and innocent!
Whatever way your fortunes went,
And if to earth your life was lent
For little space or long,
In your kind eyes we seem to see
What Woman at her best may be,
And offer to your memory
An unavailing song!
Scheme | AAABCCCB DDDEFFFE GGGHIIIH JJJKLLLK MMMNAAAN XOOLPPPL |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 010011 11011101 11011111 111101 1111001 110101001 11010101 110101 11110111 1111011 1101011 0111010 11010101 1110101 0101101 1101110 011100101 11101 11010101 1111010 11111101 110100101 11011101 1101010 11011 11001111 11011101 111101 1101001 11111101 01111101 110101 01100101 01010111 1111111 011101 01111101 11011101 01010101 110101 11010100 1011101 01111111 110111 01111111 11010111 01011100 10101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,492 |
Words | 284 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 199 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 47 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:27 min read
- 85 Views
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"Benedetta Ramus" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/2779/benedetta-ramus>.
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