Analysis of Evelyn Hope
Beautiful Evelyn Hope is dead!
Sit and watch by her side an hour.
That is her book-shelf, this her bed;
She plucked that piece of geranium-flower,
Beginning to die too, in the glass;
Little has yet been changed, I think:
The shutters are shut, no light may pass
Save two long rays thro' the hinge's chink.
Sixteen years old, when she died!
Perhaps she had scarcely heard my name;
It was not her time to love; beside,
Her life had many a hope and aim,
Duties enough and little cares,
And now was quiet, now astir,
Till God's hand beckoned unawares,---
And the sweet white brow is all of her.
Is it too late then, Evelyn Hope?
What, your soul was pure and true,
The good stars met in your horoscope,
Made you of spirit, fire and dew---
And, just because I was thrice as old
And our paths in the world diverged so wide,
Each was nought to each, must I be told?
We were fellow mortals, nought beside?
No, indeed! for God above
Is great to grant, as mighty to make,
And creates the love to reward the love:
I claim you still, for my own love's sake!
Delayed it may be for more lives yet,
Through worlds I shall traverse, not a few:
Much is to learn, much to forget
Ere the time be come for taking you.
But the time will come,---at last it will,
When, Evelyn Hope, what meant (I shall say)
In the lower earth, in the years long still,
That body and soul so pure and gay?
Why your hair was amber, I shall divine,
And your mouth of your own geranium's red---
And what you would do with me, in fine,
In the new life come in the old one's stead.
I have lived (I shall say) so much since then,
Given up myself so many times,
Gained me the gains of various men,
Ransacked the ages, spoiled the climes;
Yet one thing, one, in my soul's full scope,
Either I missed or itself missed me:
And I want and find you, Evelyn Hope!
What is the issue? let us see!
I loved you, Evelyn, all the while.
My heart seemed full as it could hold?
There was place and to spare for the frank young smile,
And the red young mouth, and the hair's young gold.
So, hush,---I will give you this leaf to keep:
See, I shut it inside the sweet cold hand!
There, that is our secret: go to sleep!
You will wake, and remember, and understand.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFGBGB HIHIJEJE KLKLMIMI NONOPAPA QRQRHSHS TJTJUVUV |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 100100111 101101110 11011101 11111010010 010111001 10111111 010111111 11111011 0111111 011110111 111011101 011100101 10010101 0111011 1111001 001111110 111111001 1111101 01110110 111101001 010111111 01010010111 111111111 101010101 1011101 111111011 0010110101 111111111 011111111 111110101 11111101 101111101 101111111 1100111111 0010100111 110011101 1111101101 01111111 011111101 0011100111 1111111111 10111101 110111001 1010101 111101111 101110111 0110111001 11010111 111100101 11111111 11101110111 0011100111 1111111111 1111010111 1111010111 1110010001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,245 |
Words | 440 |
Sentences | 30 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 236 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 63 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 04, 2023
- 2:14 min read
- 517 Views
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"Evelyn Hope" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/30347/evelyn-hope>.
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