Analysis of Thus the Mayne glideth

Robert Browning 1812 (Camberwell) – 1889 (Venice)



THUS the Mayne glideth
Where my Love abideth;
Sleep 's no softer: it proceeds
On through lawns, on through meads,
On and on, whate'er befall,
Meandering and musical,
Though the niggard pasturage
Bears not on its shaven ledge
Aught but weeds and waving grasses
To view the river as it passes,
Save here and there a scanty patch
Of primroses too faint to catch
A weary bee.... And scarce it pushes
Its gentle way through strangling rushes
Where the glossy kingfisher
Flutters when noon-heats are near,
Glad the shelving banks to shun,
Red and steaming in the sun,
Where the shrew-mouse with pale throat
Burrows, and the speckled stoat;
Where the quick sandpipers flit
In and out the marl and grit
That seems to breed them, brown as they:
Naught disturbs its quiet way,
Save some lazy stork that springs,
Trailing it with legs and wings,
Whom the shy fox from the hill
Rouses, creep he ne'er so still.


Scheme AABBCDEEFFGGFFHIJJKKLLAMNNOO
Poetic Form
Metre 1011 1111 11110101 111111 1011001 01000100 10101 1111101 11101010 110101110 11010101 1101111 010101110 1101110010 101010 1011111 1010111 1010001 1011111 1000101 10111 0010101 11111111 1011101 1110111 1011101 1011101 111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 906
Words 161
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 28
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 711
Words per stanza (avg) 159
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 30, 2023

48 sec read
123

Robert Browning

Robert Browning was the father of poet Robert Browning. more…

All Robert Browning poems | Robert Browning Books

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