Analysis of Isabel
Sydney Thompson Dobell 1824 (Kent) – 1874
In the most early morn
I rise from a damp pillow, tempest-tost,
To seek the sun with silent gaze forlorn,
And mourn for thee, my lost
Isabel.
That early hour I meet
The daily vigil of my life to keep,
Because there are no other lights so sweet,
Or shades so long and deep,
Isabel.
And best I think of thee
Beside the duskest shade and brightest sun,
Whose mystic lot in life it was to be
Outshone, outwept by none,
Isabel.
Men said that thou wert fair:
There is no brightness in the heaven above,
There is no balm upon the summer air
Like thy warm love,
Isabel.
Men saw that thou wert bright:
There is no wildness in the winds that blow,
There is no darkness in the winter's night
Like thy dark woe,
Isabel.
And yet thy path did miss
Men's footsteps: in their haunts thou hadst no joy;
The thoughts of other worlds were thine in this;
In thy sweet piety, and in thy bliss
And grief, for life too coy,
Isabel.
And so my heart's despair
Looks for thee ere the firstling smoke hath curled;
While the rapt earth is at her morning pray'r,
Ere yet she putteth on her workday air
And robes her for the world,
Isabel.
When the sun-burst is o'er,
My lonely way about the world I take,
Doing and saying much, and feeling more,
And all things for thy sake,
Isabel.
But never once I dare
To see thine image till the day be new,
And lip hath sullied not the unbreathed air,
And waking eyes are few,
Isabel.
Then that lost form appears
Which was a joy to few on earth but me:
In the young light I see thy guileless glee,
In the deep dews thy tears,
Isabel.
So with Promethean moan
In widowhood renewed I learn to grieve;
Blest with one only thought-that I alone
Can fade: that thou thro' years shalt still shine on
In beauty, as in beauty art thou gone,
Thou morn that knew no eve,
Isabel.
In beauty art thou gone;
As some bright meteor gleams across the night,
Gazed on by all, but understood by none,
And dying by its own excess of light,
Isabel.
Scheme | ababC bdbdC efefC ghghC bibiC jkjjkC gbxgbC xlxlC gmgmC xeexC nonxpoC pbfbC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 001101 1110110101 1101110101 011111 10 1101011 0101011111 0111110111 111101 10 011111 010110101 1101011111 01111 10 111111 11110001001 1111010101 1111 10 111111 1111000111 1111000101 1111 10 011111 110111111 0111010101 0111000011 011111 10 011101 111101111 10111101011 11111011 010101 10 1011110 1101010111 1001010101 011111 10 110111 1111010111 011101011 010111 10 111101 1101111111 0011111101 001111 10 1111 01011111 1111011101 1111111111 0101010111 111111 10 010111 11110010101 111110111 010111111 10 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,879 |
Words | 375 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 5, 5, 5, 7, 5 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 125 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:54 min read
- 61 Views
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"Isabel" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/35901/isabel>.
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