Sonnet IX: Can It Be Right to Give
Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806 (Kelloe) – 1861 (Florence)
Can it be right to give what I can give?
To let thee sit beneath the fall of tears
As salt as mine, and hear the sighing years
Re-sighing on my lips renunciative
Through those infrequent smiles which fail to live
For all thy adjurations? O my fears,
That this can scarce be right! We are not peers,
So to be lovers; and I own, and grieve,
That givers of such gifts as mine are, must
Be counted with the ungenerous. Out, alas!
I will not soil thy purple with my dust,
Nor breathe my poison on thy Venice-glass,
Nor give thee any love--which were unjust.
Beloved, I only love thee! let it pass.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 34 sec read
- 107 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABCADCCEFGFGFG |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 600 |
Words | 116 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
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"Sonnet IX: Can It Be Right to Give" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 16 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/10303/sonnet-ix:-can-it-be-right-to-give>.
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