Analysis of O Nightingale My Heart



O Nightingale my heart
How sad thou art!
How heavy is thy wing,
Desperately whirrëd that thy throat may fling
Song to the tingling silences remote!
Thine eye whose ruddy spark
Burned fiery of late,
How dead and dark!
Why so soon didst thou sing,
And with such turbulence of love and hate?

Learn that there is no singing yet can bring
The expected dawn more near;
And thou art spent already, though the night
Scarce has begun;
What voice, what eyes wilt thou have for the light
When the light shall appear,
And O what wings to bear thee t'ward the Sun?


Scheme AABBXCDCBD BEFGFEG
Poetic Form
Metre 110011 1111 110111 10001111111 11010010001 111101 110011 1101 111111 0111001101 1111110111 0010111 0111010101 1101 1111111101 101101 01111111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 544
Words 105
Sentences 6
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 10, 7
Lines Amount 17
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 217
Words per stanza (avg) 52
Font size:
 

Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

31 sec read
117

Discuss this Robert Nichols poem analysis with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "O Nightingale My Heart" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/31770/o-nightingale-my-heart>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    April 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    1
    day
    18
    hours
    24
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    The poet of the line: "I should be glad of another death." Is...
    A Walt Whitman
    B Emily Dickinson
    C T.S. Eliot
    D Sylvia Plath