Analysis of The Change
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
She leaned out into the soft June weather,
With her long loose tresses the night breeze played;
Her eyes were as blue as the bells on the heather:
Oh, what is so fair as a fair young maid!
She folded her hands, like the leaves of a lily,
'My life, ' she said, 'is a night in June,
Fair and quiet, and calm and stilly;
Bring me a change, O changeful moon!
'Who would drift on a lake forever?
Young hearts weary - it is not strange,
And sigh for the beautiful bounding river;
New moon, true moon, bring me a change! '
The rose that rivalled her maiden blushes
Dropped from her breast, at a strangers feet;
Only a glance; but the hot blood rushes
To mantle a fair face, shy and sweet.
To and fro, while the moon is waning,
They walk, and the stars shine on above;
And one is in earnest, and one is feigning -
Oh, what is so sweet as a sweet young love?
A young life crushed, and a young heart broken,
A bleak wind blows through the lovely bower,
And all that remains of the love vows spoken -
Is the trampled leaf of a faded flower.
The night is dark, for the moon is failing -
And what is so pale as a pale old moon?
Cold is the wind through the tree tops wailing -
Woe that the change should come so soon.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD AEAE FGFG HIHI JAJA HDHD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1110101110 1011100111 010111011010 1111110111 110011011010 111110101 10100101 1101111 111101010 11101111 01101001010 11111101 011101010 110110101 1001101110 110011101 101101110 110011101 01101001110 1111110111 0111001110 0111101010 01101101110 10101101010 0111101110 0111110111 1101101110 11011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,217 |
Words | 245 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 130 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 35 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 97 Views
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"The Change" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10825/the-change>.
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