Analysis of The Trio
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
We love but once. The great gold orb of light
From dawn to eventide doth cast his ray;
But the full splendour of his perfect might
Is reached but once throughout the live-long day.
We love but once. The waves, with ceaseless motion,
Do day and night plash on the pebbled shore;
But the strong tide of the resistless ocean
Sweeps in but one hour of the twenty-four.
We love but once. A score of times, perchance,
We may be moved in fancy’s fleeting fashion –
May treasure up a word, a tone, a glance,
But only once we feel the soul’s great passion.
We love but once. Love walks with death and birth
(The saddest, the unkindest of the three):
And only once while we sojourn on earth
Can that strange trio come to you or me.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD ECEC FGFG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1111011111 11111111 101111011 1111010111 11110111010 110111011 101110110 10111010101 1111011101 1111011010 1101010101 11011101110 1111111101 0100010101 0101111011 111111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 738 |
Words | 140 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 140 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 36 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 07, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 114 Views
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"The Trio" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10915/the-trio>.
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