Analysis of Sonnet XI: And Therefore If to Love
Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806 (Kelloe) – 1861 (Florence)
And therefore if to love can be desert,
I am not all unworthy. Cheeks as pale
As these you see, and trembling knees that fail
To bear the burden of a heavy heart,--
This weary minstrel-life that once was girt
To climb Aornus, and can scarce avail
To pipe now 'gainst the valley nightingale
A melancholy music,--why advert
To these things? O Belovèd, it is plain
I am not of thy worth nor for thy place!
And yet, because I love thee, I obtain
From that same love this vindicating grace,
To live on still in love, and yet in vain,--
To bless thee, yet renounce thee to thy face.
| Scheme | ABBCABBADEDEDE |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | |
| Metre | 011111110 1111010111 11110100111 1101010101 1101011111 11101101 1111010100 01001011 1111101111 1111111111 0101111101 1111111 1111010101 1111011111 |
| Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
| Characters | 585 |
| Words | 115 |
| Sentences | 5 |
| Stanzas | 1 |
| Stanza Lengths | 14 |
| Lines Amount | 14 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
| Words per line (avg) | 8 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 442 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 110 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 28, 2023
- 34 sec read
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