Analysis of The Confirmation

Edwin Muir 1887 (Orkney) – 1959 (Cambridge)



Yes, yours, my love, is the right human face.
I in my mind had waited for this long,
Seeing the false and searching for the true,
Then found you as a traveller finds a place
Of welcome suddenly amid the wrong
Valleys and rocks and twisting roads. But you,
What shall I call you? A fountain in a waste,
A well of water in a country dry,
Or anything that's honest and good, an eye
That makes the whole world seem bright. Your open heart,
Simple with giving, gives the primal deed,
The first good world, the blossom, the blowing seed,
The hearth, the steadfast land, the wandering sea.
Not beautiful or rare in every part.
But like yourself, as they were meant to be.


Scheme ABCABCDEEFGGHFH
Poetic Form Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 1111101101 1011110111 1001010101 11110100101 1101000101 1001010111 11111010001 0111000101 1101100111 11011111101 1011010101 01110100101 0101101001 11001101001 1101110111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 658
Words 127
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 15
Lines Amount 15
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 514
Words per stanza (avg) 125
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

38 sec read
146

Edwin Muir

Edwin Muir was an Orcadian poet, novelist and translator, born on a farm in Deerness on the Orkney Islands. He is remembered for his deeply felt and vivid poetry in plain language with few stylistic preoccupations. more…

All Edwin Muir poems | Edwin Muir Books

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