Analysis of Prelude
Richard Aldington 1892 (Portsmouth) – 1962
How could I love you more?
I would give up
Even that beauty I have loved too well
That I might love you better.
Alas, how poor the gifts that lovers give
I can but give you of my flesh and strength,
I can but give you these few passing days
And passionate words that, since our speech began,
All lovers whisper in all ladies' ears.
I try to think of some one lovely gift
No lover yet in all the world has found;
I think: If the cold sombre gods
Were hot with love as I am
Could they not endow you with a star
And fix bright youth for ever in your limbs?
Could they not give you all things that I lack?
You should have loved a god; I am but dust.
Yet no god loves as loves this poor frail dust.
Scheme | XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX AA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111 1111 1011011111 1111110 0111011101 1111111101 1111111101 010011110101 1101001101 1111111101 1101010111 1110111 0111111 111011101 0111110011 1111111111 1111011111 1111111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 699 |
Words | 147 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 7, 2 |
Lines Amount | 18 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 178 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 48 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 44 sec read
- 199 Views
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"Prelude" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/30013/prelude>.
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