Analysis of To A Proud Beauty ('A Valentine')

Adam Lindsay Gordon 1833 – 1870



Though I have loved you well, I ween,
And you, too, fancied me,
Your heart hath too divided been
A constant heart to be.
And like the gay and youthful knight,
Who loved and rode away,
Your fleeting fancy takes a flight
With every fleeting day.

So let it be as you propose,
Tho' hard the struggle be ;
'Tis fitter far—that goodness knows !—
Since we cannot agree.
Let's quarrel once for all, my sweet,
Forget the past—and then
I'll kiss each pretty girl I meet,
While you'll flirt with the men.


Scheme ABABCDCD EBEBFAFA
Poetic Form
Metre 11111111 011101 11110101 010111 01010101 110101 11010101 1100101 11111101 110101 11011101 111001 11011111 010101 11110111 111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 493
Words 94
Sentences 6
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 8
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 188
Words per stanza (avg) 47
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 27, 2023

29 sec read
117

Adam Lindsay Gordon

Adam Lindsay Gordon was an Australian poet, jockey and politician. more…

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    "To A Proud Beauty ('A Valentine')" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/192/to-a-proud-beauty-%28%27a-valentine%27%29>.

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