Analysis of Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: I
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt 1840 (Petworth House) – 1922 (United Kingdom)
When is life other than a tragedy,
Whether it is played in tears from the first scene,
In sable robes and grief's mute pageantry,
For loves that died ere they had ever been,
Or whether on the edge of joys set keen,
While all the stage with laughter is agog,
Death stepping forward with an altered mien
Pulls off his mask, and speaks the epilogue?
Life is a play acted by dying men,
Where, if its heroes seem to foot it well
And go light--tongued without grimace of pain,
Death will be found anon. And who shall tell
Which part was saddest, or in youth or age,
When the tired actor stops and leaves the stage?
Scheme | ABACBDBEFGHGII |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111010100 10111011011 0101011100 1111111101 1101011111 1101110101 1101011101 111101010 1101101101 1111011111 0111011011 111110111 1111010111 10101010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 603 |
Words | 118 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 475 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 116 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 87 Views
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"Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: I" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/38665/esther%2C-a-sonnet-sequence%3A-i>.
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