Analysis of True Johnny
Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)
Mary: Johnny, sweetheart, can you be true
To all those famous vows you've made?
Will you love me as I love you
Until we both in earth are laid?
Or shall the old wives nod and say
'His love was only for a day,
The mood goes by,
His fancies fly,
And Mary's left to sigh.'
Johnny: Mary, alas, you've hit the truth,
And I with grief can but admit
Hot-blooded haste controls my youth,
My idle fancies veer and flit
From flower to flower, from tree to tree,
And when the moment catches me
Oh, love goes by,
Away I fly,
And leave my girl to sigh.
Mary: Could you but now foretell the day,
Johnny, when this sad thing must be,
When light and gay you'll turn away
And laugh and break the heart in me?
For like a nut for true love's sake
My empty heart shall crack and break,
When fancies fly
And love goes by
And Mary's left to die.
Johnny: When the sun turns against the clock,
When Avon waters upward flow,
When eggs are laid by barn-door cock,
When dusty hens do strut and crow,
When up is down, when left is right,
Oh, then I'll break the troth I plight,
With careless eye
Away I'll fly
And Mary here shall die.
Scheme | ABABCCDDD EFEFGGDDD CGCGHHDDD IJIJKKDDD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101011111 11110111 11111111 01110111 11011101 11110101 0111 1101 010111 1010011101 01111101 11010111 11010101 1101101111 01010101 1111 0111 011111 1011110101 10111111 11011101 01010101 11011111 11011101 1101 0111 010111 1010110101 11010101 11111111 11011101 11111111 11110111 1101 0111 010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,079 |
Words | 222 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 9, 9 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 210 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 55 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:08 min read
- 98 Views
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"True Johnny" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/31215/true-johnny>.
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