Analysis of They say that shadows of deceased ghosts
Joshua Sylvester 1563 (England) – 1618
They say that shadows of deceased ghosts
Do haunt the houses and the graves about,
Of such whose life's lamp went untimely out,
Delighting still in their forsaken hosts:
So, in the place where cruel Love doth shoot
The fatal shaft that slew my love's delight,
I stalk, and walk, and wander day and night,
Even like a ghost with unperceived foot.
But those light ghosts are happier far than I,
For, at their pleasure, they can come and go
Unto the place that hides their treasure so,
And see the name with their fantastic eye:
Where I, alas, dare not approach the cruel
Proud moment that doth enclose my jewel.
Scheme | ABBACDDEFGGFHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111011 1101000101 1111110101 0101010101 1001110111 0101111101 1101010101 10101111 11111100111 1111011101 1001111101 0101110101 11011101010 1101101110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 617 |
Words | 113 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 480 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 111 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 34 sec read
- 44 Views
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"They say that shadows of deceased ghosts" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/24625/they-say-that-shadows-of-deceased-ghosts>.
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