Analysis of Ode to Fanny
John Keats 1795 (Moorgate) – 1821 (Rome)
Physician Nature! Let my spirit blood!
O ease my heart of verse and let me rest;
Throw me upon thy Tripod, till the flood
Of stifling numbers ebbs from my full breast.
A theme! a theme! great nature! give a theme;
Let me begin my dream.
I come -- I see thee, as thou standest there,
Beckon me not into the wintry air.
Ah! dearest love, sweet home of all my fears,
And hopes, and joys, and panting miseries, --
To-night, if I may guess, thy beauty wears
A smile of such delight,
As brilliant and as bright,
As when with ravished, aching, vassal eyes,
Lost in soft amaze,
I gaze, I gaze!
Who now, with greedy looks, eats up my feast?
What stare outfaces now my silver moon!
Ah! keep that hand unravished at the least;
Let, let, the amorous burn --
But pr'ythee, do not turn
The current of your heart from me so soon.
O! save, in charity,
The quickest pulse for me.
Save it for me, sweet love! though music breathe
Voluptuous visions into the warm air;
Though swimming through the dance's dangerous wreath,
Be like an April day,
Smiling and cold and gay,
A temperate lilly, temperate as fair;
Then, Heaven! there will be
A warmer June for me.
Why, this, you'll say, my Fanny! is not true:
Put your soft hand upon your snowy side,
Where the heart beats: confess -- 'tis nothing new --
Must not a woman be
A feather on the sea,
Sway'd to and fro by every wind and tide?
Of as uncertain speed
As blow-ball from the mead?
I know it -- and to know it is despair
To one who loves you as I love, sweet Fanny!
Whose heart goes fluttering for you every where,
Nor, when away you roam,
Dare keep its wretched home,
Love, love alone, his pains severe and many:
Then, loveliest! keep me free,
From torturing jealousy.
Ah! if you prize my subdued soul above
The poor, the fading, brief, pride of an hour;
Let none profane my Holy See of love,
Or with a rude hand break
The sacramental cake:
Let none else touch the just new-budded flower;
If not -- may my eyes close,
Love! on their lost repose.
Scheme | ABABCCDD XXXEEXFF GHGIIHJJ XDXKKDJJ LMLJJMNN DJDOOJJJ PQPRRQXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101011101 1111110111 110111101 1101011111 0101110101 110111 111111111 1011010101 1101111111 0101010100 1111111101 011101 110011 111110101 10101 1111 1111011111 11111101 11111101 1101001 11111 0101111111 110100 010111 1111111101 01001001011 1101011001 111101 100101 010101011 110111 010111 1111110111 1111011101 1011011101 110101 010101 11011100101 110101 111101 1110111101 11111111110 111100111001 110111 111101 11011101010 11111 1100100 1111101101 01010111110 1101110111 110111 010001 1111011110 111111 111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,981 |
Words | 379 |
Sentences | 29 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 213 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 54 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 24, 2023
- 1:55 min read
- 204 Views
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"Ode to Fanny" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23409/ode-to-fanny>.
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