Analysis of Bianca
Arthur Symons 1865 (Milford Haven) – 1945
Her cheeks are hot, her cheeks are white;
The white girl hardly breathes to-night,
So faint the pulses come and go,
That waken to a smouldering glow
The morbid faintness of her white.
What drowsing heats of sense, desire
Longing and languorous, the fire
Of what white ashes, subtly mesh
The fascination of her flesh
Into a breathing web of fire?
Only her eyes, only her mouth,
Live, in the agony of drouth,
Athirst for that which may not be:
The desert of virginity
Aches in the hotness of her mouth.
I take her hands into my hands,
Silently, and she understands;
I set my lips upon her lips;
Shuddering to her finger-tips
She strains my hands within her hands.
I set my lips on hers; they close
Into a false and phantom rose;
Upon her thirsting lips I rain
A flood of kisses, and in vain;
Her lips inexorably close.
Through her closed lips that cling to mine,
Her hands that hold me and entwine,
Her body that abondoned lies,
Rigid with sterile ecstasies,
A shiver knits her flesh to mine.
Life sucks into a mist remote
Her fainting lips, her throbbing throat;
Her lips that open to my lips,
And, hot against her finger-tips,
The pulses leaping in her throat.
Scheme | AABBA CCDDC EEFFE GGHHG IXJJI KKXGK LLHHL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 01110111 01110111 11010101 1101011 01010101 11111010 1001010 111101001 0010101 010101110 10011001 10010011 1111111 01010100 1001101 11010111 1000101 11110101 10010101 11110101 11111011 01010101 0101111 01110001 01010001 10111111 01111001 010111 101101 01010111 11010101 01010101 01110111 01010101 01010001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,140 |
Words | 214 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 35 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 130 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 30 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:04 min read
- 130 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Bianca" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/3944/bianca>.
Discuss this Arthur Symons poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In