Analysis of Love-Song
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
If Death should claim me for her own to-day,
And softly I should falter from your side,
Oh, tell me, loved one, would my memory stay,
And would my image in your heart abide?
Or should I be as some forgotten dream,
That lives its little space, then fades entire?
Should Time send o'er you its relentless stream,
To cool your heart, and quench for aye love's fire?
I would not for the world, love, give you pain,
Or ever compass what would cause you grief;
And, oh, how well I know that tears are vain!
But love is sweet, my dear, and life is brief;
So if some day before you I should go
Beyond the sound and sight of song and sea,
'T would give my spirit stronger wings to know
That you remembered still and wept for me.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFGHGH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Traditional rhyme |
Metre | 1111110111 0101110111 11111111001 0111001101 1111110101 11110111010 11110110101 11110111110 1111011111 1101011111 0111111111 1111110111 1111011111 0101011101 11111010111 1101010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 712 |
Words | 143 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 275 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 71 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 43 sec read
- 115 Views
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"Love-Song" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28789/love-song>.
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