Analysis of The Ringlet
Alfred Lord Tennyson 1809 – 1892
'Your ringlets, your ringlets,
That look so golden-gay,
If you will give me one, but one,
To kiss it night and day,
The never chilling touch of Time
Will turn it silver-gray;
And then shall I know it is all true gold
To flame and sparkle and stream as of old.
Till all the comets in heaven are cold,
And all her stars decay.'
'Then take it, love, and put it by;
This cannot change, nor yet can I.'
'My ringlet, my ringlet,
That art so golden-gay,
Now never chilling touch of Time
Can turn thee silver-gray;
And a lad may wink, and a girl may hint,
And a fool may say his say;
For my doubts and fears were all amiss,
And I swear henceforth by this and this,
That a doubt will only come for a kiss,
And a fear to be kiss'd away.'
'Then kiss it, love, and put it by:
If this can change, why so can I.'
O Ringlet, O Ringlet,
I kiss'd you night and day,
And Ringlet, O Ringlet,
You still are golden-gay,
But Ringlet, O Ringlet,
You should be silver-gray:
For what is this which now I'm told,
I that took you for true gold,
She that gave you 's bought and sold,
Sold, sold.
O Ringlet, O Ringlet,
She blush'd a rosy red,
When Ringlet, O Ringlet
She clipt you from her head,
And Ringlet, O Ringlet,
She gave you me, and said,
'Come, kiss it, love and put it by:
If this can change, why so can I.'
O fie, you golden nothing, fie,
You golden lie.
O Ringlet, O Ringlet,
I count you much to blame,
For Ringlet, O Ringlet,
You put me much to shame,
So Ringlet, O Ringlet,
I doom you to the flame.
For what is this which now I learn,
Has given all my faith a turn?
Burn, you glossy heretic, burn,
Burn, burn.
Scheme | abxbcbdddbee dbcbxaaaabeE DbDbdbdddd DfdfDfeExe Dgdgdghhhh |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111 111101 11111111 111101 01010111 111101 0111111111 1101001111 1101001011 010101 11110111 11011111 1111 111101 11010111 111101 0011100111 0011111 111010101 011111101 1011101101 00111101 11110111 11111111 1111 111101 0111 111101 1111 111101 11111111 1111111 11111101 11 1111 110101 1111 111101 0111 111101 11110111 11111111 11110101 1101 1111 111111 1111 111111 1111 111101 11111111 11011101 11101001 11 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,619 |
Words | 326 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 12, 10, 10, 10 |
Lines Amount | 54 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 235 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 64 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:37 min read
- 121 Views
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"The Ringlet" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1117/the-ringlet>.
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