Analysis of A Face
Robert Browning 1812 (Camberwell) – 1889 (Venice)
If one could have that little head of hers
Painted upon a background of pure gold,
Such as the Tuscan's early art prefers!
No shade encroaching on the matchless mould
Of those two lips, which should be opening soft
In the pure profile; not as when she laughs,
For that spoils all: but rather as if aloft
Yon hyacinth, she loves so, leaned its staff's
Burden of honey-colored buds to kiss
And capture 'twixt the lips apart for this.
Then her little neck, three fingers might surround,
How it should waver on the pale gold ground
Up to the fruit-shaped, perfect chin it lifts!
I know, Correggio loves to mass, in rifts
Of heaven, his angel faces, orb on orb
Breaking its outline, burning shades absorb:
But these are only massed there, I should think,
Waiting to see some wonder momently
Grow out, stand full, fade slow against the sky
(That's the pale ground you'd see this sweet face by),
All heaven, meanwhile, condensed into one eye
Which fears to lose the wonder, should it wink.
Scheme | ABABCDEDFFGGHHIIJKLLLJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111110110 100101111 110110101 110101011 11111111001 001111111 11111101101 110111111 1011010111 0101010111 10101110101 1111010111 1101101111 11111101 11011010111 101110101 1111011111 10111101 1111110101 1011111111 1101010111 1111010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 969 |
Words | 178 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 22 |
Lines Amount | 22 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 770 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 176 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 26, 2023
- 54 sec read
- 280 Views
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