Analysis of Indeed, Indeed I Cannot Tell

Henry David Thoreau 1817 (Concord) – 1862 (Concord)



Indeed indeed, I cannot tell,
Though I ponder on it well,
Which were easier to state,
All my love or all my hate.
Surely, surely, thou wilt trust me
When I say thou dost disgust me.
O, I hate thee with a hate
That would fain annihilate;
Yet sometimes against my will,
My dear friend, I love thee still.
It were treason to our love,
And a sin to God above,
One iota to abate
Of a pure impartial hate.


Scheme AABBCCBBDDEEBB
Poetic Form
Metre 01011101 1110111 1010011 1111111 10101111 11111011 1111101 111010 1010111 1111111 10101101 0011101 1010101 1010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 407
Words 82
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 304
Words per stanza (avg) 80
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 14, 2023

24 sec read
446

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist. more…

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