Analysis of The Last Act

Edith Nesbit 1858 (Kennington, Surrey ) – 1924 (New Romney, Kent)



NEVER a ring or a lock of hair
Or a letter stained with tears,
No crown for the princely hour to wear,
To be mocked of the rebel years.
Not a spoken vow, not a written page
And never a rose or a rhyme
To tell to the wintry ear of age
The tale of the summer time.

Never a tear or a farewell kiss
When the time is come to part;
For the kiss would burn and the tear would hiss
On the smouldering fire in my heart.
But let me creep to the kindly clay,
And nothing be left to tell
How I played in your play a year and a day,
And died when the curtain fell!


Scheme AXAXBCBC DEDEFGFG
Poetic Form
Metre 100110111 1010111 1110101011 11110101 1010110101 01001101 111010111 0110101 10011011 1011111 1011100111 10110011 111110101 0101111 11101101001 0110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 558
Words 122
Sentences 5
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 8
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 211
Words per stanza (avg) 60
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
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Edith Nesbit

Edith Nesbit (married name Edith Bland) was an English author and poet; she published her books for children under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on more than 60 books of children's literature. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a socialist organisation later affiliated to the Labour Party. more…

All Edith Nesbit poems | Edith Nesbit Books

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