Analysis of When We Are All Asleep
William Cosmo Monkhouse 1840 (London) – 1901
WHEN He returns, and finds the world so drear,
All sleeping, young and old, unfair and fair,
Will he stoop down and whisper in each ear,
“Awaken!” or for pity’s sake forbear,
Saying, “How shall I meet their frozen stare
Of wonder, and their eyes so full of fear?
How shall I comfort them in their despair,
If they cry out, ‘Too late! let us sleep here’?”
Perchance He will not wake us up, but when
He sees us look so happy in our rest,
Will murmur, “Poor dead women and dead men!
Dire was their doom, and weary was their quest.
Wherefore awake them into life again?
Let them sleep on untroubled—it is best.”
Scheme | AAAAAAAABCBCBC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101010111 1101010101 1111010011 01011111 1011111101 1100111111 1111010101 1111111111 0111111111 11111100101 1101110011 1111010111 101101101 1111010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 645 |
Words | 120 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 460 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 115 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 79 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"When We Are All Asleep" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39783/when-we-are-all-asleep>.
Discuss this William Cosmo Monkhouse 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