Analysis of Rococo
Algernon Charles Swinburne 1837 (London) – 1909 (London)
TAKE HANDS and part with laughter;
Touch lips and part with tears;
Once more and no more after,
Whatever comes with years.
We twain shall not remeasure
The ways that left us twain;
Nor crush the lees of pleasure
From sanguine grapes of pain.
We twain once well in sunder,
What will the mad gods do
For hate with me, I wonder,
Or what for love with you?
Forget them till November,
And dream there’s April yet;
Forget that I remember,
And dream that I forget.
Time found our tired love sleeping,
And kissed away his breath;
But what should we do weeping,
Though light love sleep to death?
We have drained his lips at leisure,
Till there’s not left to drain
A single sob of pleasure,
A single pulse of pain.
Dream that the lips once breathless
Might quicken if they would;
Say that the soul is deathless;
Dream that the gods are good;
Say March may wed September,
And time divorce regret;
But not that you remember,
And not that I forget.
We have heard from hidden places
What love scarce lives and hears:
We have seen on fervent faces
The pallor of strange tears:
We have trod the wine-vat’s treasure,
Whence, ripe to steam and stain,
Foams round the feet of pleasure
The blood-red must of pain.
Remembrance may recover
And time bring back to time
The name of your first lover,
The ring of my first rhyme;
But rose-leaves of December
The frosts of June shall fret,
The day that you remember,
The day that I forget.
The snake that hides and hisses
In heaven we twain have known;
The grief of cruel kisses,
The joy whose mouth makes moan;
The pulse’s pause and measure,
Where in one furtive vein
Throbs through the heart of pleasure
The purpler blood of pain.
We have done with tears and treasons
And love for treason’s sake;
Room for the swift new seasons,
The years that burn and break,
Dismantle and dismember
Men’s days and dreams, Juliette;
For love may not remember,
But time will not forget.
Life treads down love in flying,
Time withers him at root;
Bring all dead things and dying,
Reaped sheaf and ruined fruit,
Where, crushed by three days’ pressure,
Our three days’ love lies slain;
And earlier leaf of pleasure,
And latter flower of pain.
Breathe close upon the ashes,
It may be flame will leap;
Unclose the soft close lashes,
Lift up the lids, and weep.
Light love’s extinguished ember,
Let one tear leave it wet
For one that you remember
And ten that you forget.
Scheme | ABAXACAC ADADAEAE FGFGACAC XHBHAEAE IXIBACAC AJAJAEAE KLILACAC BMXMAEAE FNFNACAC IOKOAEAE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (28%) |
Metre | 1101110 110111 1101110 10111 11111 011111 1101110 110111 1111010 110111 1111110 111111 0111010 011101 0111010 011101 111010110 010111 1111110 111111 11111110 111111 0101110 010111 1101110 110111 110111 110111 1111010 010101 1111010 011101 11111010 111101 11111010 01111 11101110 111101 1101110 011111 0101010 011111 0111110 011111 1111010 011111 0111010 011101 0111010 0101111 0111010 011111 0101010 101101 1101110 01111 1111101 01111 1101110 011101 0100010 1101001 1111010 111101 1111010 110111 1111010 110101 1111110 1011111 01001110 0101011 1101010 111111 101110 110101 1101010 111111 1111010 011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 2,320 |
Words | 435 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 80 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 186 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 43 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 14, 2023
- 2:10 min read
- 140 Views
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"Rococo" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1389/rococo>.
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