Analysis of The Troll's Nosegay

Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)



A simple nosegay! Was that much to ask?
(Winter still nagged, with scarce a bud yet showing.)
He loved her ill, if he resigned the task.
'Somewhere,' she cried, 'there must be blossom blowing.'
It seems my lady wept and the troll swore
By Heaven he hated tears: he'd cure her spleen -
Where she had begged one flower he'd shower fourscore,
A bunch fit to amaze a China Queen.

Cold fog-drawn Lily, pale mist-magic Rose
He conjured, and in a glassy cauldron set
WIth elvish unsubstantial Mignonette
And such vague blooms as wandering dreams enclose.
But she?
Awed,
Charmed to tears,
Distracted,
Yet -
Even yet, perhaps, a trifle piqued - who knows?


Scheme ABABCDCD EFFEXXXXFE
Poetic Form
Metre 010111111 10111101110 1101110101 1111111010 1111010011 11011011101 11111101101 0111010101 1111011101 11000010101 1111 01111100101 11 1 111 010 1 10101010111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 638
Words 119
Sentences 10
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 10
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 249
Words per stanza (avg) 57
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 10, 2023

35 sec read
63

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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