Analysis of If
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
IF life were but a dream, my Love,
And death the waking time;
If day had not a beam, my Love,
And night had not a rhyme, —
A barren, barren world were this
Without one saving gleam;
I'd only ask that with a kiss
You'd wake me from the dream.
If dreaming were the sum of days,
And loving were the bane;
If battling for a wreath of bays
Could soothe a heart in pain, —
I'd scorn the meed of battle's might,
All other aims above
I'd choose the human's higher right,
To suffer and to love!
Scheme | ABABCDCDEFEFGAGA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010111 010101 11110111 011101 01010101 011101 11011101 111101 11000111 010001 110010111 110101 11011101 110101 11010101 110011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 482 |
Words | 101 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 364 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 99 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 32 sec read
- 133 Views
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"If" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28744/if>.
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