Analysis of The Dove
Sidney Lanier 1842 (Macon) – 1881 (Lynn)
If haply thou, O Desdemona Morn,
Shouldst call along the curving sphere, "Remain,
Dear Night, sweet Moor; nay, leave me not in scorn!"
With soft halloos of heavenly love and pain; --
Shouldst thou, O Spring! a-cower in coverts dark,
'Gainst proud supplanting Summer sing thy plea,
And move the mighty woods through mailed bark
Till mortal heart-break throbbed in every tree; --
Or (grievous `if' that may be `yea' o'er-soon!),
If thou, my Heart, long holden from thy Sweet,
Shouldst knock Death's door with mellow shocks of tune,
Sad inquiry to make -- `When may we meet?'
Nay, if ye three, O Morn! O Spring! O Heart!
Should chant grave unisons of grief and love;
Ye could not mourn with more melodious art
Than daily doth yon dim sequestered dove.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Traditional rhyme Quatrain |
Metre | 111111 1101010101 1111111101 1111100101 1111010011 1101010111 010101111 11011101001 11011111101 1111110111 1111110111 1010111111 1111111111 1111001101 11111101001 1101110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 749 |
Words | 136 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 143 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 06, 2023
- 40 sec read
- 92 Views
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"The Dove" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34790/the-dove>.
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