Analysis of Modern Love XXXIII: In Paris, at the Louvre

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



'In Paris, at the Louvre, there have I seen
The sumptuously-feathered angel pierce
Prone Lucifer, descending. Looked he fierce,
Showing the fight a fair one? Too serene!
The young Pharsalians did not disarray
Less willingly their locks of floating silk:
That suckling mouth of his, upon the milk
Of heaven might still be feasting through the fray.
Oh, Raphael! when men the Fiend do fight,
They conquer not upon such easy terms.
Half serpent in the struggle grow these worms
And does he grow half human, all is right.'
This to my Lady in a distant spot,
Upon the theme: While mind is mastering clay,
Gross clay invades it. If the spy you play,
My wife, read this! Strange love talk, is it not?


Scheme ABBACDDCEFFEGCCG
Poetic Form
Metre 01010101111 0110101 1100010111 1001011101 0111101 1100111101 1101110101 11011110101 101110111 1101011101 1100010111 0111110111 1111000101 01011111001 1101110111 1111111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 701
Words 127
Sentences 11
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 542
Words per stanza (avg) 124
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
45

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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