Analysis of Fixed Is The Doom

Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 (Edinburgh) – 1894 (Vailima, Samoa)



FIXED is the doom; and to the last of years
Teacher and taught, friend, lover, parent, child,
Each walks, though near, yet separate; each beholds
His dear ones shine beyond him like the stars.
We also, love, forever dwell apart;
With cries approach, with cries behold the gulph,
The Unvaulted; as two great eagles that do wheel in air
Above a mountain, and with screams confer,
Far heard athwart the cedars.
Yet the years
Shall bring us ever nearer; day by day
Endearing, week by week, till death at last
Dissolve that long divorce.  By faith we love,
Not knowledge; and by faith, though far removed,
Dwell as in perfect nearness, heart to heart.
We but excuse
Those things we merely are; and to our souls
A brave deception cherish.
So from unhappy war a man returns
Unfearing, or the seaman from the deep;
So from cool night and woodlands to a feast
May someone enter, and still breathe of dews,
And in her eyes still wear the dusky night.


Scheme ABACDEFGHAIJEKDLMNOPQRS
Poetic Form
Metre 1101010111 1001110101 111111011 1111011101 1101010101 1101110101 011111011101 0101001101 1101010 101 1111010111 0101111111 0111011111 1100111101 110011111 1101 11110101101 0101010 1101010101 11010101 111101101 111001111 000111011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 926
Words 172
Sentences 7
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 23
Lines Amount 23
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 734
Words per stanza (avg) 171
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

51 sec read
89

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. more…

All Robert Louis Stevenson poems | Robert Louis Stevenson Books

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