Analysis of Love and Sleep
Algernon Charles Swinburne 1837 (London) – 1909 (London)
Love and Sleep
Lying asleep between the strokes of night
I saw my love lean over my sad bed,
Pale as the duskiest lily's leaf or head,
Smooth-skinned and dark, with bare throat made to bite,
Too wan for blushing and too warm for white,
But perfect-coloured without white or red.
And her lips opened amorously, and said -
I wist not what, saving one word - Delight.
And all her face was honey to my mouth,
And all her body pasture to mine eyes;
The long lithe arms and hotter hands than fire
The quivering flanks, hair smelling of the south,
The bright light feet, the splendid supple thighs
And glittering eyelids of my soul's desire.
Scheme | X ABBAABBA CDECDE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 101 1001010111 1111110111 11011111 1101111111 1111001111 1011001111 00110101 1111101101 0101110111 0101010111 01110101110 01001110101 0111010101 01001111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 851 |
Words | 119 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 8, 6 |
Lines Amount | 15 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 166 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 05, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 115 Views
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"Love and Sleep" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1352/love-and-sleep>.
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