Analysis of Sonnet XLII: My Future

Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806 (Kelloe) – 1861 (Florence)



My future will not copy fair my past -
I wrote that once; and thinking at my side
My ministering life-angel justified
The word by his appealing look upcast
To the white throne of God, I turned at last,
And there, instead, saw thee, not unallied
To angels in thy soul! Then I, long tried
By natural ills, received the comfort fast,
While budding, at thy sight, my pilgrim's staff
Gave out green leaves with morning dews impearled.
I seek no copy now of life's first half:
Leave here the pages with long musing curled,
And write me new my future's epigraph,
New angel mine, unhoped for in the world!


Scheme ABBAAABACACDCD
Poetic Form
Metre 1101110111 1111010111 110011010 011101011 1011111111 01011111 1100111111 11001010101 1101111101 111111011 1111011111 1101011101 01111101 110111001
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 592
Words 112
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 465
Words per stanza (avg) 110
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
54

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most prominent English poets of the Victorian era. more…

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