Analysis of The Gift Of The Gods
Edith Nesbit 1858 (Kennington, Surrey ) – 1924 (New Romney, Kent)
'GIVE me thy dreams,' she said, and I
With empty hands and very poor,
Watched my fair flowery visions die
Upon the temple's marble floor.
'Give joy,' she said. I let joy go;
I saw with cold, unclouded eyes
The crimson of the sunset glow
Across the disenchanted skies.
'Give me thy youth,' she said. I gave,
And, sudden-clouded, died the sun,
And on the green mound of a grave
Fell the slow raindrops, one by one.
'Give love,' she cried. I gave that too.
'Give beauty.' Beauty sighed and fled;
For what on earth should beauty do,
When love, who was her life, was dead?
She took the balm of innocent tears
To hiss upon her altar-coal;
She took the hopes of all my years,
And, at the last, she took my soul.
With heart made empty of delight,
And hands that held no more fair things
I questioned her--'What shall requite
The savour of my offerings?'
'The Gods,' she said, 'with generous hand
Give guerdon for thy gifts of cost--
Wisdom is thine--to understand
The worth of all that thou hast lost!'
Scheme | AXAX BCBC DEDE FGFG XHXH XIFI JXJX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (71%) |
Metre | 11111101 11010101 111100101 01010101 11111111 111111 0101011 01000101 11111111 01010101 01011101 1011111 11111111 11010101 11111101 11110111 110111001 11010101 11011111 01011111 11110101 01111111 1100111 0111100 011111001 1111111 1011101 01111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,002 |
Words | 194 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 107 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 56 sec read
- 130 Views
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