Analysis of I Vex Me Not With Brooding on the Years

Thomas Bailey Aldrich 1836 (Portsmouth) – 1907 (Boston)



I vex me not with brooding on the years
That were ere I drew breath; why should I then
Distrust the darkness that may fall again
When life is done? Perchance in other spheres--
Dead planets--I once tasted mortal tears,
And walked as now among a throng of men,
Pondering things that lay beyond my ken,
Questioning death, and solacing my fears.
Offtimes indeed strange sense I have of this,
Vague memories that hold me with a spell,
Touches of unseen lips upon my brow,
Breathing some incommunicable bliss!
In years foregone, O soul, was all not well?
Still lovelier life awaits thee. Fear not thou!


Scheme ABBACBBADEFDEF
Poetic Form
Metre 1111110101 1011111111 0101011101 1111010101 1101110101 0111010111 1001110111 10010111 101111111 1100111101 1010110111 10111 0111111111 111011111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 605
Words 108
Sentences 7
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 472
Words per stanza (avg) 106
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
49

Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Thomas Bailey Aldrich was a poet novelist traveler and editor more…

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