Analysis of Sonnet XXXIV: With the Same Heart

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



With the same heart, I said, I'll answer thee
As those, when thou shalt call me by my name--
Lo, the vain promise! is the same, the same,
Perplexed and ruffled by life's strategy?
When called before, I told how hastily
I dropped my flowers or brake off from a game,
To run and answer with the smile that came
At play last moment, and went on with me
Through my obedience. When I answer now,
I drop a grave thought, break from solitude;
Yet still my heart goes to thee--ponder how--
Not as to a single good, but all my good!
Lay thy hand on it, best one, and allow
That no child's foot could run as fast as this blood.


Scheme ABBAABBACDCECF
Poetic Form
Metre 1011111101 1111111111 1011010101 0101011100 1101111100 11110111101 1101010111 1111001111 11010011101 110111110 1111111101 11101011111 1111111001 11111111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 625
Words 124
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 467
Words per stanza (avg) 122
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 27, 2023

38 sec read
90

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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

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