Analysis of A Maiden To Her Mirror

Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919



He said he loved me! Then he called my hair
 Silk threads wherewith sly Cupid strings his bow,
 My cheek a rose leaf fallen on new snow;
And swore my round, full throat would bring despair
To Venus or to Psyche.

Time and care
 Will fade these locks; the merry god, I know,
 Uses no grizzled cords upon his bow.
How will it be when I, no longer fair,
 Plead for his kiss with cheeks, whence long ago
The early snowflakes melted quite away,
The rose leaf died – and in whose sallow clay
 Lie the deep sunken tracks of life’s gaunt crow?

When this full throat shall wattle fold on fold,
 Like some ripe peach left drying on a wall,
 Or like a spent accordion, when all
Its music has exhaled – will love grow cold?


Scheme ABCAX ACBACDDC EFFE
Poetic Form
Metre 1111111111 111110111 1101110111 0111111101 1101110 101 1111010111 1011010111 1111111101 1111111101 010110101 011100111 1011011111 1111110111 1111110101 1101010011 1101011111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 719
Words 139
Sentences 6
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 5, 8, 4
Lines Amount 17
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 182
Words per stanza (avg) 46
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

41 sec read
113

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet. more…

All Ella Wheeler Wilcox poems | Ella Wheeler Wilcox Books

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