Analysis of A Billet Doux

George Moses Horton 1779 (North Carolina) – 1883



My brightest hopes are mix'd with tears,
Like hues of light and gloom;
As when mid sun-shine rain appears,
Love rises with a thousand fears,

To pine and still to bloom.
When I have told my last fond tale
In lines of song to thee,
And for departure spread my sail,
Say, lovely princess, wilt thou fail
To drop a tear for me?

O, princess, should my votive strain
Salute thy ear no more,
Like one deserted on the main,
I still shall gaze, alas! but vain,
On wedlock's flow'ry shore.


Scheme XABB ACDCCD EFEEF
Poetic Form
Metre 11011111 111101 11111101 11010101 110111 11111111 011111 01010111 11010111 110111 1101111 011111 11010101 11110111 1111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 487
Words 93
Sentences 5
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 6, 5
Lines Amount 15
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 122
Words per stanza (avg) 30
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

28 sec read
96

George Moses Horton

George Moses Horton was an African-American poet and the first African American poet to be published in the Southern United States. His book was published in 1828 while he was still a slave; he remained a slave until he was emancipated late in the Civil War. more…

All George Moses Horton poems | George Moses Horton Books

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