Analysis of Sonnet VII

George Santayana 1863 (Madrid) – 1952 (Rome)



I would I might forget that I am I,
And break the heavy chain that binds me fast,
Whose links about myself my deeds have cast.
What in the body’s tomb doth buried lie
Is boundless; ’tis the spirit of the sky,
Lord of the future, guardian of the past,
And soon must forth, to know his own at last.
In his large life to live, I fain would die.
Happy the dumb beast, hungering for food,
But calling not his suffering his own;
Blessèd the angel, gazing on all good,
But knowing not he sits upon a throne;
Wretched the mortal, pondering his mood,
And doomed to know his aching heart alone.


Scheme ABBAABBACDEDCD
Poetic Form
Metre 1111011111 0101011111 110111111 100111101 1101010101 11010100101 0111111111 0111111111 1001110011 1101110011 1101010111 1101110101 1001010011 0111110101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 597
Words 115
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 449
Words per stanza (avg) 113
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 16, 2023

34 sec read
138

George Santayana

Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, known as George Santayana, was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. more…

All George Santayana poems | George Santayana Books

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