Analysis of A Bride
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
'O I am weary!' she sighed, as her billowy
Hair she unloosed in a torrent of gold
That rippled and fell o'er a figure as willowy,
Graceful and fair as a goddess of old:
Over her jewels she flung herself drearily,
Crumpled the laces that snowed on her breast,
Crushed with her fingers the lily that wearily
Clung in her hair like a dove in its nest--.
And naught but her shadowy form in the mirror
To kneel in dumb agony down and weep near her!
'Weary--?' Of what? Could we fathom the mystery--?
Lift up the lashes weighed down by her tears
And wash with their dews one white face from her history,
Set like a gem in the red rust of years?
Nothing will rest her-- unless he who died of her
Strayed from his grave, and in place of the groom,
Tipping her face, kneeling there by the side of her,
Drained the old kiss to the dregs of his doom--.
And naught but that shadowy form in the mirror
To heel in dumb agony down and weep near her!
Scheme | ABABACACDD EXEXDFDFDD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1111011101 111001011 11001100101100 1001101011 1001011011 1001011101 110100101100 1001101011 011010010010 110110010110 101111100100 1101011101 0111111110100 1101001111 101100111110 1111001101 100110110110 1011101111 011110010010 110110010110 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 923 |
Words | 187 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 10 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 359 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 92 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 55 sec read
- 130 Views
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"A Bride" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 16 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20756/a-bride>.
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