Analysis of I approach and I withdraw
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz 1648 (San Miguel Nepantla) – 1695 (Mexico City)
(Español)
Me acerco y me retiro:
¿quién sino yo hallar puedo
a la ausencia en los ojos
la presencia en lo lejos?
Del desprecio de Filis,
infelice, me ausento.
¡Ay de aquel en quien es
aun pérdida el desprecio!
Tan atento la adoro
que, en el mal que padezco,
no siento sus rigores
tanto como el perderlos.
No pierdo, al partir, sólo
los bienes que poseo,
si en Filis, que no es mía,
pierdo lo que no pierdo.
¡Ay de quien un desdén
lograba tan atento,
que por no ser dolor
no se atrevió a ser premio!
Pues viendo, en mi destino,
preciso mi destierro,
me desdeñaba más
porque perdiera menos.
¡Ay! ¿Quién te enseño, Filis,
tan primoroso medio:
vedar a los desdenes
el traje del afecto?
A vivir ignorado
de tus luces, me ausento
donde ni aun mi mal sirva
a tu desdén de obsequio.
(English)
I approach, and I withdraw:
who but I could find
absence in the eyes,
presence in what's far?
From the scorn of Phyllis,
now, alas, I must depart.
One is indeed unhappy
who misses even scorn!
So caring is my love
that my present distress
minds hard-heartedness less
than the thought of its loss.
Leaving, I lose more
than what is merely mine:
in Phyllis, never mine,
I lose what can't be lost.
Oh, pity the poor person
who aroused such kind disdain
that to avoid giving pain,
it would grant no favor!
For, seeing in my future
obligatory exile,
she disdained me the more,
that the loss might be less.
Oh, where did you discover
so neat a tactic, Phyllis:
denying to disdain
the garb of affection?
To live unobserved
by your eyes, I now go
where never pain of mine
need flatter your disdain.
Scheme | ABCDD DCDD BEDD ADXC FCBX FBDD DCDC CCGE XBCDB DCXX GDDD BHHC IJJB BABD BDJI CEHJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11 11111 1110111 011111 11111 1111 111 111111 11111 1111 111111 1111 11011 111111 1111 11111110 11111 111111 111 11111 111011 11111 111 11111 111 1111111 11100 1011 1111 011 11111 111111 011111 10 1010101 11111 10001 10011 101110 1011101 1101010 110101 110111 111001 1111 101111 10111 111101 010101 111111 1100110 1011101 1101101 111110 1100110 01001 101101 101111 1111010 1101010 010101 011010 111 111111 110111 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,582 |
Words | 295 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 16 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 66 |
Letters per line (avg) | 18 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 75 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 18 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 28, 2023
- 1:29 min read
- 280 Views
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"I approach and I withdraw" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/35625/i-approach-and-i-withdraw>.
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