Analysis of Before Meeting
Arthur Symons 1865 (Milford Haven) – 1945
I know not how our eyes first met,
I only know that, night by night,
For one long instant we forget
All but our instant of delight.
Child, I have never heard you speak,
I know not of your face by day,
Nor if the rose upon your cheek
With night's spent roses faints away.
So far apart from me you seem,
Ever about to be so near,
I must have dreamed you in some dream,
I do but dream that you are here.
Well, no awakening may there be!
I look to you in fairy-land,
From fairy-land you look to me,
We smile, and seem to understand.
| Scheme | ABAB CDCD EXEX FGFG |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | Quatrain (75%) |
| Metre | 111110111 11011111 11110101 111010101 11110111 11111111 11010111 11110101 11011111 10011111 11111011 11111111 110100111 11110101 11011111 1101101 |
| Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
| Characters | 524 |
| Words | 110 |
| Sentences | 6 |
| Stanzas | 4 |
| Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
| Lines Amount | 16 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
| Words per line (avg) | 7 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 100 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 33 sec read
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"Before Meeting" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/3940/before-meeting>.
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