Analysis of Two Roses
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
A humble wild-rose, pink and slender,
Was plucked and placed in a bright bouquet,
Beside a Jacqueminot’s royal splendour,
And both in my lady’s boudoir lay.
Said the haughty bud, in a tone of scorning,
‘I wonder why you are called a rose?
Your leaves will fade in a single morning;
No blood of mine in your pale cheek glows.
‘Your course green stalk shows dust of the highway,
You have no depths of fragrant bloom;
And what could you learn in a rustic byway
To fit you to lie in my lady’s room?
‘If called to adorn her warm, white bosom,
What have you to offer for such a place,
Beside my fragrant and splendid blossom,
Ripe with colour and rich with grace?
Said the sweet wild-rose, ‘Despite your dower
Of finer breeding and deeper hue,
Despite your beauty, fair, high-bred flower,
It is I who should lie on her breast, not you.
‘For small account is your hot-house glory
Beside the knowledge that came to me
When I heard by the wayside love’s old story
And felt the kiss of the amorous bee.’
Scheme | ABAB CDCD BEBE FGFG XHAH IIII |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 010111010 110100101 0101101 0101111 1010100111 110111101 1111001010 111101111 111111101 11111101 0111100101 111110111 1110101110 1111101101 0111001010 1110111 101110111 110100101 0111011110 11111110111 1101111110 010101111 1111011110 0101101001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,025 |
Words | 188 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 128 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 06, 2023
- 56 sec read
- 104 Views
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