Analysis of Modern Love VIII: Yet It Was Plain She Struggled
George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)
Yet it was plain she struggled, and that salt
Of righteous feeling made her pitiful.
Poor twisting worm, so queenly beautiful!
Where came the cleft between us? whose the fault?
My tears are on thee, that have rarely dropped
As balm for any bitter wound of mine:
My breast will open for thee at a sign!
But, no: we are two reed-pipes, coarsely stopped:
The God once filled them with his mellow breath;
And they were music till he flung them down,
Used! used! Hear now the discord-loving clown
Puff his gross spirit in them, worse than death
I do not know myself without thee more:
In this unholy battle I grow base:
If the same soul be under the same face,
Speak, and a taste of that old time restore!
Scheme | ABBACDDCEFFEGHHG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111110011 1101010100 110111100 1101011101 1111111101 1111010111 1111011101 111111111 0111111101 0101011111 1111010101 1111001111 111110111 0101010111 1011110011 1001111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 708 |
Words | 133 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 545 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 131 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 30 Views
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"Modern Love VIII: Yet It Was Plain She Struggled" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15512/modern-love-viii%3A-yet-it-was-plain-she-struggled>.
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