Analysis of Modern Love X: But Where Began the Change

George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)



But where began the change; and what's my crime?
The wretch condemned, who has not been arraigned,
Chafes at his sentence. Shall I, unsustained,
Drag on Love's nerveless body thro' all time?
I must have slept, since now I wake. Prepare,
You lovers, to know Love a thing of moods:
Not like hard life, of laws. In Love's deep woods,
I dreamt of loyal Life:--the offence is there!
Love's jealous woods about the sun are curled;
At least, the sun far brighter there did beam.
My crime is, that the puppet of a dream,
I plotted to be worthy of the world.
Oh, had I with my darling helped to mince
The facts of life, you still had seen me go
With hindward feather and with forward toe,
Her much-adored delightful Fairy Prince!


Scheme ABBACDECFGGFHIIH
Poetic Form
Metre 1101010111 0101111101 11110111 111110111 1111111101 1101110111 1111110111 1111010111 1101010111 1101110111 1111010101 1101110101 1111110111 0111111111 111001101 0101010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 728
Words 136
Sentences 10
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 552
Words per stanza (avg) 133
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 11, 2023

42 sec read
100

George Meredith

George Meredith was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times. more…

All George Meredith poems | George Meredith Books

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