Analysis of The Secret Rose



FAR-OFF, most secret, and inviolate Rose,
Enfold me in my hour of hours; where those
Who sought thee in the Holy Sepulchre,
Or in the wine-vat, dwell beyond the stir
And tumult of defeated dreams; and deep
Among pale eyelids, heavy with the sleep
Men have named beauty.  Thy great leaves enfold
The ancient beards, the helms of ruby and gold
Of the crowned Magi; and the king whose eyes
Saw the pierced Hands and Rood of elder rise
In Druid vapour and make the torches dim;
Till vain frenzy awoke and he died; and him
Who met Fand walking among flaming dew
By a grey shore where the wind never blew,
And lost the world and Emer for a kiss;
And him who drove the gods out of their liss,
And till a hundred moms had flowered red
Feasted, and wept the barrows of his dead;
And the proud dreaming king who flung the crown
And sorrow away, and calling bard and clown
Dwelt among wine-stained wanderers in deep woods:
And him who sold tillage, and house, and goods,
And sought through lands and islands numberless years,
Until he found, with laughter and with tears,
A woman of so shining loveliness
That men threshed corn at midnight by a tress,
A little stolen tress.  I, too, await
The hour of thy great wind of love and hate.
When shall the stars be blown about the sky,
Like the sparks blown out of a smithy, and die?
Surely thine hour has come, thy great wind blows,
Far-off, most secret, and inviolate Rose?


Scheme AabbccddeeffgghhiijjkklmanooppaA
Poetic Form
Metre 11110001001 011011011011 11100101 1001110101 0101010101 011110101 1111011101 01010111001 1011000111 1011011101 0101010101 11100101101 1111001101 1011101101 010101101 0111011111 0101011101 1001010111 0011011101 01001010101 10111100011 011110101 011101011 0111110011 01011101 111111101 0101011101 01011111101 1101110101 1011110101 10110111111 11110001001
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,385
Words 264
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 32
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 1,102
Words per stanza (avg) 264
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

1:19 min read
151

William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. more…

All William Butler Yeats poems | William Butler Yeats Books

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