Analysis of Sonnet XII

Alan Seeger 1888 (New York City) – 1916



Like as a dryad, from her native bole
Coming at dusk, when the dim stars emerge,
To a slow river at whose silent verge
Tall poplars tremble and deep grasses roll,
Come thou no less and, kneeling in a shoal
Of the freaked flag and meadow buttercup,
Bend till thine image from the pool beam up
Arched with blue heaven like an aureole.
See how adorable in fancy then
Lives the fair face it mirrors even so,
O thou whose beauty moving among men
Is like the wind's way on the woods below,
Filling all nature where its pathway lies
With arms that supplicate and trembling sighs.


Scheme ABBAACCADEDEFF
Poetic Form
Metre 110110101 1011101101 1011011101 111001101 1111010001 10110110 1111010111 1111011100 1101000101 1011110101 1111010011 1101110101 101101111 111101001
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 580
Words 109
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 455
Words per stanza (avg) 107
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
91

Alan Seeger

Alan Seeger was an American poet who fought and died in World War I during the Battle of the Somme serving in the French Foreign Legion. more…

All Alan Seeger poems | Alan Seeger Books

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