Analysis of Sonnet XX: Oh! I Could Toil For Thee

Mary Darby Robinson 1757 (England) – 1800 (England)



Oh! I could toil for thee o'er burning plains;
Could smile at poverty's disastrous blow;
With thee, could wander 'midst a world of snow,
Where one long night o'er frozen Scythia reigns.
Sever'd from thee, my sick'ning soul disdains
The thrilling thought, the blissful dream to know,
And can'st thou give my days to endless woe,
Requiting sweetest bliss with cureless pains?
Away, false fear! nor think capricious fate
Would lodge a daemon in a form divine!
Sooner the dove shall seek a tyger mate,
Or the soft snow-drop round the thistle twine;
Yet, yet, I dread to hope, nor dare to hate,
Too proud to sue! too tender to resign!


Scheme ABBAABBACDCDCD
Poetic Form
Metre 11111110101 11110101 1111010111 1111101011 1011111101 0101010111 01111111101 1101111 0111110101 1101000101 1001110101 1011110101 1111111111 1111110101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 624
Words 113
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 489
Words per stanza (avg) 111
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
51

Mary Darby Robinson

Mary Robinson was an English actress, poet, dramatist, novelist, and celebrity figure. more…

All Mary Darby Robinson poems | Mary Darby Robinson Books

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