Analysis of Nocturn

Francis Thompson 1859 (City of Preston, Lancashire) – 1907 (London)



I walk, I only,
Not I only wake;
Nothing is, this sweet night,
But doth couch and wake
For its love's sake;
Everything, this sweet night,
Couches with its mate.
For whom but for the stealthy-visitant sun
Is the naked moon
Tremulous and elate?
The heaven hath the earth
Its own and all apart;
The hush-ed pool holdeth
A star to its heart.
You may think the rose sleepeth,
But though she folded is,
The wind doubts her sleeping;
Not all the rose sleeps,
But smiles in her sweet heart
For crafty bliss.
The wind lieth with the rose,
And when he stirs, she stirs in her repose:
The wind hath the rose,
And the rose her kiss.
Ah, mouth of me!
Is it then that this
Seemeth much to thee?--
I wander only.
The rose hath her kiss.


Scheme ABCBBCDEFDGHGHGIJKHLMMMLALAAL
Poetic Form
Metre 11110 11101 101111 11101 1111 10111 10111 111101011 10101 100001 010101 110101 01111 01111 111011 111101 011010 11011 110011 1101 011101 0111110001 01101 00101 1111 11111 1111 11010 01101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 701
Words 142
Sentences 10
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 29
Lines Amount 29
Letters per line (avg) 19
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 551
Words per stanza (avg) 139
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

42 sec read
78

Francis Thompson

The Rt Rev Francis William Banahene Thompson was Bishop of Accra from 1983 to 1996. more…

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