Analysis of Only A Sad Mistake
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
Only a blunder-a sad mistake;
All my own fault and mine alone.
The saddest error a heart can make;
I was so young, or I would have known.
Only his rare, sweet, tender smile;
Only a lingering touch of his hand.
I think I was dreaming all the while,
The reason I did not understand.
Yet, somewhere, I've read men woo this way;
That eyes speak, sometimes, before the tongue.
And I was sure he would speak some day;
Pardon the folly-I was so young.
Was I, say-for now I am old!
So old, it seems like a hundred years
Since I felt my heart growing hard and cold
With a pain too bitter and deep for tears.
I saw him lean over the stranger's chair,
With a warm, new light in his beautiful eyes;
And I woke from my dreaming, then and there,
And went out of my self-made Paradise.
He never loved me-I know, I see!
Such sad, sad blunders as young hearts make.
She did not win him away from me,
For he was not mine. It was my mistake.
A woman should wait for a man to speak
Before she dreams of his love, I own;
But I was a girl-girls' hearts are weak;
And the pain, like the fault, is mine alone.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GXGX HXHX IAIA JBJB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (71%) |
Metre | 100100101 11110101 010100111 111111111 10111101 1001001111 111110101 01011101 11111111 111010101 011111111 100101111 11111111 111110101 1111110101 1011100111 1111100101 10111011001 0111110101 011111110 110111111 111101111 111110111 1111111101 0101110111 011111111 111011111 0011011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,066 |
Words | 219 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 117 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 84 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Only A Sad Mistake" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10738/only-a-sad-mistake>.
Discuss this Ella Wheeler Wilcox poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In