Analysis of Romance In The Market Place

Roderic Quinn 1867 (Surry Hills, New South Wales) – 1949 (Darlinghurst, New South Wales)



YOU stood beside the flowers,
Yourself a flower;
And on your face
The twilight stayed another hour,
It shone so pale;
And all around men talked as in a market-place.
I heard them talk, and felt
No interest stir
In what they said.
Lilies were nigh you, and around you were
The lights of love,
And all about the world moved on with nervous tread.
I heard it not; for down
And round about
My soul you drew
The veils that shut the loud earth out,
And I and you
Were there alone — no one beside but I and you!
What words were those we said?
Old ones, perchance,
Pale with the pain
Of all who've kissed, and talked romance,
And said farewell,
And mixed their tears and kissed, and sighed — and sighed in vain.
We stood a sainted while,
And then your hand
Sought to be free,
And you were gone; and all the land
Was under gloom,
And lamps were lit for other men, but none for me.
I stood and watched you go,
And suddenly
The loud world grew
Like some great-voiced, insetting sea;
And men went by,
Talking of trade and war and all but love and you.


Scheme ABCBDCEBFBGFHIJIJJFKLKMLNOPOQPRPJPSJ
Poetic Form
Metre 1101010 01010 0111 01101010 1111 010111100101 111101 1101 0111 1001100110 0111 010101111101 111111 0101 1111 01110111 0101 010111011101 110111 1101 1101 11010101 011 011101010101 110101 0111 1111 01010101 1101 010111011111 110111 0100 0111 111111 0111 101101011101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,016
Words 206
Sentences 9
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 36
Lines Amount 36
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 799
Words per stanza (avg) 204
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:02 min read
55

Roderic Quinn

Roderic Joseph Quinn was an Australian poet. more…

All Roderic Quinn poems | Roderic Quinn Books

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