Analysis of Not Quite The Same

Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919



Not quite the same the springtime seems to me,
 Since that sad season when in separate ways
 Our paths diverged.  There are no more such days
As dawned for us in that last time when we
Dwelt in the realm of dreams, illusive dreams;
Spring may be just as fair now, but it seems
Not quite the same.

Not quite the same in life, since we two parted,
 Knowing it best to go our ways alone.
 Fair measures of success we both have known,
And pleasant hours; and yet something departed
Which gold, nor fame, nor anything we win,
Can all replace.  And either life has been
Not quite the same.

Love is not quite the same, although each heart
 Has formed new ties, that are both sweet and true;
 But that wild rapture, which of old we knew,
Seems to have been a something set apart
With that lost dream.  There is no passion, now,
Mixed with this later love, which seems, somehow,
Not quite the same.

Not quite the same am I.  My inner being
 Reasons and knows that all is for the best.
 Yet vague regrets stir always in my breast,
As my souls eyes turn sadly backward, seeing
The vanished self, that evermore must be,
This side of what we call eternity,
Not quite the same.


Scheme abbaccD effeggD hiihjjD kllkaaD
Poetic Form
Metre 110101111 1111010101 10101111111 1111011111 1001110101 1111111111 1101 11010111110 10111110101 1101011111 010100110010 111111011 111010111 1101 111101111 1111111101 1111011111 1111010101 1111111101 111101111 1101 11011111010 1001111101 110111011 11111101010 010111011 1111110100 1101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,160
Words 222
Sentences 11
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 7, 7, 7, 7
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 224
Words per stanza (avg) 56
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:06 min read
108

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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