Analysis of Dolls
She said: "I am too old to play
With dolls," and put them all away,
Into a box, one rainy day.
I think she must have felt some pain,
She looked so long into the rain,
Then sighed: "I'll bring you out again;
"For I'll have little children too,
With sunny hair and eyes of blue
And they will play and play with you.
"And now good-bye, my pretty dears;
There in the dark for years and years,
Dream of your little mother's tears."
Eglantine, Pierrot and Marie Claire,
Topsy and Tiny and Teddy Bear,
Side by side in the coffer there.
Time went by; one day she kneeled
By a wooden Cross in Flanders Field,
And wept for the One the earth concealed;
And made a vow she would never wed,
But always be true to the deathless dead,
Until the span of her life be sped.
* *
* * *
* *
More years went on and they made her wise
By sickness and pain and sacrifice,
With greying tresses and tired eyes.
And then one evening of weary rain,
She opened the old oak box again,
And her heart was clutched with an ancient pain
For there in the quiet dark they lay,
Just as they were when she put them away...
O but it seemed like yesterday!
Topsy and Tiny and Teddy Bear,
Eglantine, Pierrot and Marie Claire,
Ever so hopefully waiting there.
But she looked at them through her blinding tears,
And she said: "You've been patient, my pretty dears;
You've waited and waited all these years.
"I've broken a promise I made so true;
But my heart, my darlings, is broken too:
No little Mothers have I for you.
"My hands are withered, my hair is grey;
Yet just for a moment I'll try to play
With you as I did that long dead day...
"Ah no, I cannot. I try in vain . . .
I stare and I stare into the rain . . .
I'll put you back in your box again.
"Bless you, darlings, perhaps one day,
Some little Mother will find you and play,
And once again you'll be glad and gay.
"But when in the friendly dark I lie,
No one will ever love you as I . . . .
My little children . . . good-bye . . . good-bye."
Scheme | aaa bbc ddd eee FFf dgg hhh eee bcb aaa FFf eee ddd aaa bbc aaa iii |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111111 11011101 01011101 11111111 11110101 11111101 11110101 11010111 01110111 01111101 10011101 11110101 1010011 100100101 11100101 1111111 101010101 011010101 010111101 11111011 010110111 1 1 1 111101101 11001010 110100101 011101101 110011101 0011111101 110010111 1110111101 1111110 100100101 1010011 101100101 1111110101 01111101101 110010111 1100101111 1111101101 110101111 111101111 1110101111 111111111 111101101 110110101 111101101 11100111 1101011101 010111101 110010111 111101111 110101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,939 |
Words | 384 |
Sentences | 33 |
Stanzas | 18 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 |
Lines Amount | 54 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 81 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 1:57 min read
- 191 Views
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"Dolls" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32081/dolls>.
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