Analysis of Portrait

Louise Bogan 1897 (Livermore Falls) – 1970 (New York City)



She has no need to fear the fall
Of harvest from the laddered reach
Of orchards, nor the tide gone ebbing
From the steep beach.

Nor hold to pain's effrontery
Her body's bulwark, stern and savage,
Nor be a glass, where to forsee
Another's ravage.

What she has gathered, and what lost,
She will not find to lose again.
She is possessed by time, who once
Was loved by men.


Scheme XAXA BXBX XCXC
Poetic Form Quatrain  (67%)
Metre 11111101 1101011 110101110 1011 11110100 010101010 11011101 01010 11110011 11111101 11011111 1111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 377
Words 72
Sentences 5
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 95
Words per stanza (avg) 23
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

22 sec read
383

Louise Bogan

Louise Bogan was an American poet. more…

All Louise Bogan poems | Louise Bogan Books

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