Analysis of Small Is The Trust When Love Is Green

Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 (Edinburgh) – 1894 (Vailima, Samoa)



SMALL is the trust when love is green
In sap of early years;
A little thing steps in between
And kisses turn to tears.

Awhile - and see how love be grown
In loveliness and power!
Awhile, it loves the sweets alone,
But next it loves the sour.

A little love is none at all
That wanders or that fears;
A hearty love dwells still at call
To kisses or to tears.

Such then be mine, my love to give,
And such be yours to take:-
A faith to hold, a life to live,
For lovingkindness' sake:

Should you be sad, should you be gay,
Or should you prove unkind,
A love to hold the growing way
And keep the helping mind:-

A love to turn the laugh on care
When wrinkled care appears,
And, with an equal will, to share
Your losses and your tears.


Scheme ABAC DEDE FBFC XGXG HIHI JBJC
Poetic Form Quatrain  (50%)
Metre 11011111 011101 01011001 010111 01011111 01010 01110101 1111010 01011111 110111 01011111 110111 11111111 011111 01110111 111 11111111 111101 01110101 010101 01110111 110101 01110111 110011
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 712
Words 150
Sentences 6
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 93
Words per stanza (avg) 24
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

45 sec read
137

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. more…

All Robert Louis Stevenson poems | Robert Louis Stevenson Books

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