Analysis of The Stranger's Gift

Jones Very 1813 (Salem) – 1880



I found far culled from fragrant field and grove
Each flower that makes our Spring a welcome guest;
In one sweet bond of brotherhood inwove
An osier band their leafy stalks compressed;
A stranger's hand had made their bloom my own,
And fresh their fragrance rested on the air;
His gift was mine—but he who gave unknown,
And my heart sorrowed though the flowers were fair.
Now oft I grieve to meet them on the lawn,
As sweetly scattered round my path they grow,
By One who on their petals paints the dawn,
And gilt with sunset splendors bids them glow,
For I ne'er asked 'who steeps them in perfume?'
Nor anxious sought His love who crowns them all with bloom.


Scheme ABABCDCDEFEFGG
Poetic Form Shakespearean sonnet 
Metre 1111110101 110111010101 01111101 111110101 0101111111 0111010101 1111111101 0111101001 1111111101 1101011111 1111110101 01111111 1111111001 110111111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 656
Words 124
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 37
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 522
Words per stanza (avg) 121
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
114

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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