Analysis of To Thee

Henry Timrod 1828 (Charleston) – 1867 (Columbia)



Draw close the lattice and the door!
Shut out the very stars above!
No other eyes than mine shall pore
Upon this thrilling tale of love.
As, since the book was open last,
Along its dear and sacred text
No other eyes than thine have passed --
Be mine the eyes that trace it next!

Oh! very nobly is it wrought, --
This web of love's divinest light, --
But not to feed my soul with thought,
Hang I upon the book to-night;
I read it only for thy sake,
To every page my lips I press --
The very leaves appear to make
A silken rustle like thy dress.

And so, as each blest page I turn,
I seem, with many a secret thrill,
To touch a soft white hand, and burn
To clasp and kiss it at my will.
Oh! if a fancy be so sweet,
These shadowy fingers touching mine --
How wildly would my pulses beat,
If they COULD feel the beat of thine!


Scheme ABABCDCD EFEFGHGH IJIJKLKL
Poetic Form Traditional rhyme
Metre 11010001 11010101 11011111 01110111 11011101 01110101 11011111 11011111 11010111 111111 11111111 11010111 11110111 110011111 01010111 01010111 01111111 111100101 11011101 11011111 11010111 110010101 11011101 11110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 806
Words 170
Sentences 10
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 206
Words per stanza (avg) 56
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

51 sec read
61

Henry Timrod

Henry Timrod was an American poet, often called the poet laureate of the Confederacy. more…

All Henry Timrod poems | Henry Timrod Books

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