Analysis of Sweet Death
The sweetest blossoms die.
And so it was that, going day by day
Unto the church to praise and pray,
And crossing the green churchyard thoughtfully,
I saw how on the graves the flowers
Shed their fresh leaves in showers,
And how their perfume rose up to the sky
Before it passed away.
The youngest blossoms die.
They die, and fall and nourish the rich earth
From which they lately had their birth;
Sweet life, but sweeter death that passeth by
And is as though it had not been:—
All colors turn to green:
The bright hues vanish, and the odours fly,
The grass hath lasting worth.
And youth and beauty die.
So be it, O my God, Thou God of truth:
Better than beauty and than youth
Are Saints and Angels, a glad company;
And Thou, O lord, our Rest and Ease,
Are better far than these.
Why should we shrink from our full harvest? why
Prefer to glean with Ruth?
Scheme | ABBCDDAB AEEAXXAE AFFCGGAF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 010101 0111110111 10011101 010011100 111101010 1111010 0110111101 011101 010101 1101010011 11110111 111101111 01111111 110111 011100011 011101 010101 1111111111 10110011 1101001100 011110101 110111 11111101101 011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 843 |
Words | 165 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 222 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 54 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 28, 2023
- 49 sec read
- 455 Views
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"Sweet Death" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5926/sweet-death>.
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