Analysis of The Promised Lullaby
Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)
Can I find True-Love a gift
In this dark hour to restore her,
When body's vessel breaks adrift,
When hope and beauty fade before her?
But in this plight I cannot think
Of song or music, that would grieve her,
Or toys or meat or snow-cooled drink;
Not this way can her sadness leave her.
She lies and frets in childish fever,
All I can do is but to cry
'Sleep, sleep, True-Love and lullaby!'
Lullaby, and sleep again.
Two bright eyes through the window stare,
A nose is flattened on the pane
And infant fingers fumble there.
'Not yet, not yet, you lovely thing,
But count and come nine weeks from now,
When winter's tail has lost the sting,
When buds come striking through the bough,
Then here's True-Love will show you how
Her name she won, will hush your cry
With 'Sleep, my baby! Lullaby!'
Scheme | ABABCBCBBDD XEXEFGFGGDD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111101 011101010 11010101 110101010 10111101 111101110 11111111 111101010 110101010 11111111 1111010 100101 11110101 01110101 01010101 11111101 11011111 11011101 11110101 11111111 01111111 1111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 778 |
Words | 151 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 11, 11 |
Lines Amount | 22 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 304 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 74 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 45 sec read
- 48 Views
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