Analysis of How Grey The World Was

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt 1840 (Petworth House) – 1922 (United Kingdom)



How grey the world was with its memories,
How dark even this gay room where the motes run!
How black these curtains, thick with murder cries,
These chairs, this floor with things slain in the sun!
'Twas here I strangled love, a year ago,
And hid it 'neath these pillows drenched in blood,
As a mad mother her sweet babe of woe,
Too strong to die, too fair, which shrieks aloud.
How black and bare and bitter the world was
Just yesterday! To--day, this room, dear Heaven,
What laughters fill it! what light footsteps pass!
See, the white chairs dance round me pleasure--driven,
And these sad pillows, where I wept, blab out
The news that you are here, in psalm and shout!


Scheme ABCBDEDFGBHBII
Poetic Form
Metre 1101111100 11101111011 1111011101 1111111001 1111010101 0111110101 1011001111 1111111101 1101010011 1101111110 11111111 10111111010 0111011111 0111110101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 665
Words 124
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 37
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 518
Words per stanza (avg) 122
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
96

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt was an English poet and writer. more…

All Wilfrid Scawen Blunt poems | Wilfrid Scawen Blunt Books

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