Analysis of The Portrait
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
The portrait there above my bed
They tell me is a work of art;
My Wife,--since twenty years she's dead:
Her going nearly broke my heart.
Alas! No little ones we had
To light our hearth with joy and glee;
Yet as I linger lone and sad
I know she's waiting me.
The picture? Sargent painted it,
And it has starred in many a show.
Her eyes are on me where I sit,
And follow me where'er I go.
She'll smile like that when I am gone,
And I am frail and oh so ill!
Aye, when I'm waxen, cold and wan,
Lo! She'll be smiling still.
So I have bade them slash in strips
That relic of my paradise.
Let flame destroy those lovely lips
And char the starlight of her eyes!
No human gaze shall ever see
Her beauty,--stranger heart to stir:
Nay, her last smile shall be for me,
My last look be for her.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFXGXG HXHXDIDI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01010111 11110111 11110111 01010111 01110111 111011101 11110101 111101 01010101 011101001 01111111 01011011 11111111 01110111 1111101 111101 11111101 1101110 11011101 0101101 11011101 01010111 10111111 111110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 811 |
Words | 162 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 196 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 53 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 50 sec read
- 84 Views
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"The Portrait" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32618/the-portrait>.
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