Analysis of Modern Love XIX: No State Is Enviable
George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)
No state is enviable. To the luck alone
Of some few favoured men I would put claim.
I bleed, but her who wounds I will not blame.
Have I not felt her heart as 'twere my own
Beat thro' me? could I hurt her? heaven and hell!
But I could hurt her cruelly! Can I let
My Love's old time-piece to another set,
Swear it can't stop, and must for ever swell?
Sure, that's one way Love drifts into the mart
Where goat-legged buyers throng. I see not plain:--
My meaning is, it must not be again.
Great God! the maddest gambler throws his heart.
If any state be enviable on earth,
'Tis yon born idiot's, who, as days go by,
Still rubs his hands before him, like a fly,
In a queer sort of meditative mirth.
Scheme | ABBACDDCEFGEHIIH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111100010101 111111111 1110111111 1111011111 11111101001 1111010111 1111110101 1111011101 1111110101 11101011111 1101111101 110110111 11011100011 111111111 1111011101 001111001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 702 |
Words | 140 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 522 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 137 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 43 sec read
- 126 Views
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"Modern Love XIX: No State Is Enviable" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15518/modern-love-xix%3A-no-state-is-enviable>.
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