Analysis of Listen!

Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919



Whoever you are as you read this,
 Whatever your trouble or grief,
I want you to know and to heed this:
 The day draweth near with relief.

No sorrow, no woe is unending,
 Though heaven seems voiceless and dumb;
So sure as your cry is ascending,
 So surely an answer will come.

Whatever temptation is near you,
 Whose eyes on this simple verse fall;
Remember good angels will hear you
 And help you to stand, if you call.

Though stunned with despair I beseech you,
 Whatever your losses, your need,
Believe, when these printed words reach you,
 Believe you were born to succeed.

You are stronger, I tell you, this minute,
 Than any unfortunate fate!
And the coveted prize - you can win it;
 While life lasts 'tis never too late!


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF EGEG XHXH
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 010111111 1011011 111110111 0111101 110111010 11011001 111111010 11011011 10010111 11111011 010110111 01111111 111011011 1011011 011110111 01101101 1110111110 11001001 0010011111 11111011
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 730
Words 133
Sentences 7
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 112
Words per stanza (avg) 26
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

39 sec read
105

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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