Analysis of They Shall Not Know
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt 1840 (Petworth House) – 1922 (United Kingdom)
When thou art happy, thou dear heart of pleasure,
Because men love thee and the feasts are spread,
And Fortune in thy lap has poured her treasure,
And Spring is there and roses crown thy head,
Then think of one who loved thee for his woe,
And, if thou sigh
With others by,
They shall not know.
When thou art silent in thy day of trouble,
Because fools vex and thou hast rivals found
And love has played thee falser than a bubble
And memory stings and grief is as a wound,
Then think of one whose hand first soothed thy brow,
And, if a smile
Thy tears beguile,
These shall not know.
When all is ended, thou pale ghost of sorrow,
And time's last flower is gathered from the grove,
And yesterday to thee is as to--morrow
And there is none to speak to thee of love,
Then sing these songs one made thee long ago,
And men shall swear
Thou still art fair--
Yet shall not know.
Scheme | ABABCDDC EFEFXGGC CXCXCHHC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110111110 0111100111 01001111010 0111010111 1111111111 0111 1101 1111 11110011110 0111011101 0111111010 01001011101 1111111111 0101 1101 1111 11110111110 01110110101 0101111110 0111111111 1111111101 0111 1111 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 854 |
Words | 171 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 225 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 56 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 67 Views
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"They Shall Not Know" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/38951/they-shall-not-know>.
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