Analysis of For A Picture
Algernon Charles Swinburne 1837 (London) – 1909 (London)
That nose is out of drawing. With a gasp,
She pants upon the passionate lips that ache
With the red drain of her own mouth, and make
A monochord of colour. Like an asp,
One lithe lock wriggles in his rutilant grasp.
Her bosom is an oven of myrrh, to bake
Love's white warm shewbread to a browner cake.
The lock his fingers clench has burst its hasp.
The legs are absolutely abominable.
Ah! what keen overgust of wild-eyed woes
Flags in that bosom, flushes in that nose?
Nay! Death sets riddles for desire to spell,
Responsive. What red hem earth's passion sews,
But may be ravenously unripped in hell?
Scheme | ABBAABBACDDEDE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111110101 11010100111 1011101101 0111111 11110111 01011101111 111110101 0111011111 01101001000 11111111 1011010011 11110101011 0101111101 1111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 601 |
Words | 112 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 471 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 110 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 34 sec read
- 68 Views
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"For A Picture" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1320/for-a-picture>.
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