Analysis of Only a Woman
Dinah Maria Mulock Craik 1826 (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire) – 1887 (Shortlands, London)
"She loves with love that cannot tire:
And if, ah, woe! she loves alone,
Through passionate duty love flames higher,
As grass grows taller round a stone."
Coventry Patmore.
SO, the truth's out. I 'll grasp it like a snake, --
It will not slay me. My heart shall not break
Awhile, if only for the children's sake.
For his too, somewhat. Let him stand unblamed;
None say, he gave me less than honor claimed,
Except -- one trifle scarcely worth being named --
The heart. That 's gone. The corrupt dead might be
As easily raised up, breathing -- fair to see,
As he could bring his whole heart back to me.
I never sought him in coquettish sport,
Or courted him as silly maidens court,
And wonder when the longed-for prize falls short.
I only loved him -- any woman would:
But shut my love up till he came and sued,
Then poured it o'er his dry life like a flood.
I was so happy I could make him blest!
So happy that I was his first and best,
As he mine -- when he took me to his breast.
Ah me! If only then he had been true!
If for one little year, a month or two,
He had given me love for love, as was my due!
Or had he told me, ere the deed was done,
He only raised me to his heart's dear throne --
Poor substitute -- because his queen was gone!
O, had he whispered, when his sweetest kiss
Was warm upon my mouth in fancied bliss,
He had kissed another woman even as this, --
It were less bitter! Sometimes I could weep
To be thus cheated, like a child asleep: --
Were not my anguish far too dry and deep.
So I built my house upon another's ground;
Mocked with a heart just caught at the rebound --
A cankered thing that looked so firm and sound.
And when that heart grew colder -- colder still,
I, ignorant, tried all duties to fulfil,
Blaming my foolish pain, exacting will,
All -- anything but him. It was to be:
The full draught others drink up carelessly
Was made this bitter Tantalus-cup for me.
I say again -- he gives me all I claimed,
I and my children never shall be shamed:
He is a just man -- he will live unblamed.
Only -- O God, O God, to cry for bread,
And get a stone! Daily to lay my head
Upon a bosom where the old love's dead!
Dead? -- Fool! It never lived. It only stirred
Galvanic, like an hour-cold corpse. None heard:
So let me bury it without a word.
He 'll keep that other woman from my sight.
I know not if her face be foul or bright;
I only know that it was his delight --
As his was mine: I only know he stands
Pale, at the touch of their long-severed hands,
Then to a flickering smile his lips commands,
Lest I should grieve, or jealous anger show.
He need not. When the ship 's gone down, I trow,
We little reck whatever wind may blow.
And so my silent moan begins and ends.
No world's laugh or world's taunt, not pity of friends
Or sneer of foes with this my torment blends.
None knows -- none heeds. I have a little pride;
Enough to stand up, wife-like, by his side,
With the same smile as when I was a bride.
And I shall take his children to my arms;
They will not miss these fading, worthless charms;
Their kiss -- ah! unlike his -- all pain disarms.
And haply, as the solemn years go by,
He will think sometimes with regretful sigh,
The other woman was less true than I.
Scheme | ABABXCCCDDDEEEDDDDDDDDD FFDXBXGGGHHHDDDIIIEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDJJJKKKLLLDDDMMGNNN |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111010 01111101 1100101110 11110101 10010 10111111101 1111111111 0111010101 111111111 1111111101 01110101101 01111001111 11001110111 1111111111 11011011 1101110101 0101011111 1101110101 1111111101 11110111101 1111011111 1101111101 1111111111 1111011111 1111010111 111011111111 1111110111 1101111111 110011111 1111011101 1101110101 111010101011 1011001111 1111010101 0111011101 11111010101 1101111001 011111101 0111110101 1100111011 1011010101 110111111 0111011100 11110100111 1101111111 1011010111 110111111 1011111111 0101101111 0101010111 1111011101 01011101111 1111010101 11111010111 1111011111 1101111101 1111110111 1101111101 11010011101 1111110101 11110111111 110110111 0111010101 11111111011 111111111 1111110101 0111111111 1011111101 0111110111 1111110101 111011111 011010111 1110110101 0101011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 3,238 |
Words | 638 |
Sentences | 43 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 23, 51 |
Lines Amount | 74 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,200 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 318 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:13 min read
- 106 Views
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"Only a Woman" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8047/only-a-woman>.
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