Analysis of The Barberry-Bush

Jones Very 1813 (Salem) – 1880



The bush that has most briers and bitter fruit
Waits till the frost has turned its green leaves red,
Its sweetened berries will thy palate suit,
And thou mayst find e'en there a homely bread;
Upon the hills of Salem scattered wide,
Their yellow blossoms gain the eye in Spring;
And straggling e'en upon the turnpike's side,
Their ripened branches to your hand they bring;
I've plucked them oft in boyhood's early hour,
That then I gave such name, and thought it true;
But now I know that other fruit as sour,
Grows on what now thou callst Me and You;
Yet wilt thou wait the autumn that I see,
Will sweeter taste than these red berries be.


Scheme ABABCDCDEFEFGG
Poetic Form Shakespearean sonnet 
Metre 0111110101 1101111111 1101011101 01111110101 0101110101 1101010101 011101011 1101011111 1111011010 1111110111 11111101110 111111101 1111010111 1101111101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 633
Words 120
Sentences 2
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 502
Words per stanza (avg) 118
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
93

Jones Very

Jones Very was an American poet, essayist, clergymen, and mystic associated with the American Transcendentalism movement. more…

All Jones Very poems | Jones Very Books

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