Analysis of Let Love Go, If Go She Will
Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 (Edinburgh) – 1894 (Vailima, Samoa)
LET love go, if go she will.
Seek not, O fool, her wanton flight to stay.
Of all she gives and takes away
The best remains behind her still.
The best remains behind; in vain
Joy she may give and take again,
Joy she may take and leave us pain,
If yet she leave behind
The constant mind
To meet all fortunes nobly, to endure
All things with a good heart, and still be pure,
Still to be foremost in the foremost cause,
And still be worthy of the love that was.
Love coming is omnipotent indeed,
But not Love going. Let her go. The seed
Springs in the favouring Summer air, and grows,
And waxes strong; and when the Summer goes,
Remains, a perfect tree.
Joy she may give and take again,
Joy she may take and leave us pain.
O Love, and what care we?
For one thing thou hast given, O Love, one thing
Is ours that nothing can remove;
And as the King discrowned is still a King,
The unhappy lover still preserves his love.
Scheme | abba cDCeeffgghhiij DCjkxkx |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (24%) |
Metre | 1111111 1111010111 11110101 01010101 01010101 11110101 11110111 111101 0101 1111010101 1110110111 11110011 0111010111 1101010001 1111010101 100110101 0101010101 010011 11110101 11110111 110111 11111101111 110110101 010111101 00101010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 900 |
Words | 181 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 14, 7 |
Lines Amount | 25 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 235 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 60 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 54 sec read
- 112 Views
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"Let Love Go, If Go She Will" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/31624/let-love-go%2C-if-go-she-will>.
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