Analysis of Betrothed
Augusta Davies Webster 1837 (Poole, Dorset) – 1894
I DID not think to love her. As we go
We pluck a hedge-rose blushing in its sheath,
Fresh, and at hand; and not the less we know
That where rich garden blossoms take the breath
With eddying sweets and wear a thousand hues
We shall be fain to linger and to choose.
And who indeed
Would pass the garden by to choose the weed,
The little wayside rose we hold and lose?
Fair; and so loving. With the young surprise
Of children who still newly understand
Their right and wrong out of their mother's eyes,
She watches for my thought. Her trustful hand
Creeps into mine and rests. Ah, little one,
Hadst thou loved less I had not been undone;
My wayside rose.
I love thee, sweet: some hopes have found their close
Ere yet their aim; some joys ceased unbegun.
I had not thought to love her. She is fair;
But I had pictured eyes which, meeting mine,
Should kindle something in me that was there
But waited Her arousing; I divine
A love, that was to be, past hence unborn,
The sun o'erclouded ere it rose at morn.
I love thee, yes:
Let hopes be dead which thou couldst never guess.
Sweet, could I let thy blossom drop unworn?
Scheme | AXAXBBCCB DEDEFFXXF GHGHIIJJF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111110111 1101110011 1011010111 1111010101 111010101 1111110011 0101 1101011101 010111101 1011010101 110111001 1101111101 110111011 1011011101 1111111101 111 1111111111 11111111 1111110111 1111011101 1101001111 1100010101 0111111111 01111111 1111 1111111101 111111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,096 |
Words | 214 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 9 |
Lines Amount | 27 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 289 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 71 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:04 min read
- 102 Views
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