Analysis of A Promise.
Fanny Kemble 1809 (London) – 1893
In the dark, lonely night,
When sleep and silence keep their watch o'er men;
False love! in thy despite,
I will be with thee then.
When in the world of dreams thy spirit strays,
Seeking, in vain, the peace it finds not here,
Thou shalt be led back to thine early days
Of life and love, and I will meet thee there.
I'll come to thee, with the bright, sunny brow,
That was Hope's throne before I met with thee;
And then I'll show thee how 'tis furrowed now
By the untimely age of misery.
I'll speak to thee, in the fond, joyous tone,
That wooed thee still with love's impassioned spell;
And then I'll teach thee how I've learnt to moan,
Since last upon thine ear its accents fell.
I'll come to thee in all youth's brightest power,
As on the day thy faith to mine was plighted,
And then I'll tell thee weary hour by hour,
How that spring's early promise has been blighted.
I'll tell thee of the long, long, dreary years,
That have passed o'er me hopeless, objectless;
My loathsome days, my nights of burning tears,
My wild despair, my utter loneliness,
My heart-sick dreams upon my feverish bed,
My fearful longing to be with the dead; -
In the dark lonely night,
When sleep and silence keep their watch o'er men;
False love! in thy despite,
We two shall meet again!
Scheme | ABAbcdcefgfghihijajklcmnooABAb |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (27%) |
Metre | 001101 11010111101 110101 111111 1001111101 1001011111 1111111101 1101011111 1111101101 1111011111 0111111101 1001011100 1111001101 1111110101 0111111111 1101111101 11110111010 1101111111 011111010110 11110101110 1111011101 111101101 1101111101 1101110100 11110111001 1101011101 001101 11010111101 110101 111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,234 |
Words | 236 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 30 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 967 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 236 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:15 min read
- 1 View
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"A Promise." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/55222/a-promise.>.
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