Analysis of The Perfect Present

Arthur Henry Adams 1872 (Lawrence) – 1936 (Sydney, New South Wales)



SO I have kissed you! And this hour is mine.
 Its light along the level future lasts,
 It crowns a drab eternity of Pasts!
 Here soul and soul have crossed the border-line
 Of self, and merged. No years can e'er untwine
 This hour from us! What though to-morrow casts
 The memory out, and your cold glance contrasts
 With this day's rich red lips, need I repine?  
  No. I have kissed you! And the brief warm flower
 Born of our lips perfumes eternity.
 From the long loneliness that silently
 Stretches behind, before, I am content
 To cull this blossom of one perfect hour—
 To snatch one star from Time's deep firmament!


Scheme ABBAABBACDDECD
Poetic Form
Metre 11111011011 1101010101 1101010011 1101110101 1101111101 11011111101 01001011110 111111111 11111001110 11101010100 1011001100 1001011110 11110110110 11111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 632
Words 112
Sentences 11
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 476
Words per stanza (avg) 110
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 23, 2023

34 sec read
50

Arthur Henry Adams

Arthur Henry Adams was a journalist and author. He started his career in New Zealand, though he spent most of it in Australia, and for a short time lived in China and London.  more…

All Arthur Henry Adams poems | Arthur Henry Adams Books

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