Analysis of The Beacon

Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)



The silent shepherdess,
She of my vows,
Here with me exchanging love
Under dim boughs.

Shines on our mysteries
A sudden spark--
'Dout the candle, glow-worm,
Let all be dark.

'The birds have sung their last notes,
The Sun's to bed,
Glow-worm, dout your candle.'
The glow-worm said:

'I also am a lover;
The lamp I display
Is beacon for my true love
Wandering astray.

'Through the thick bushes
And the grass comes she
With a heartload of longing
And love for me.

'Sir, enjoy your fancy,
But spare me harm,
A lover is a lover,
Though but a worm.'


Scheme AABA ACDC AEXE FGBG AHXH AXFD
Poetic Form Quatrain  (67%)
Metre 0101 1111 1110101 1011 1110100 0101 101011 1111 0111111 0111 111110 0111 1101010 01101 1101111 10001 10110 00111 101110 0111 101110 1111 0101010 1101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 527
Words 104
Sentences 7
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 17
Words per line (avg) 4
Letters per stanza (avg) 69
Words per stanza (avg) 17
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

30 sec read
136

Robert Graves

Robert von Ranke Graves was an English poet, scholar/translator/writer of antiquity specializing in Classical Greece and Rome, novelist and soldier in World War One. more…

All Robert Graves poems | Robert Graves Books

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