Analysis of Youth And Knowledge

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



What price, child, shall I pay for your bright eyes
(How large a debt!) the light they shed on me?
What for your cheeks, so red in their surprise,
Your lips, your hands, your maiden gestures free,
Your fair brows crowned with grave nobility,
All the delight which in your presence lies,
The words unsaid, the deeds which dare not be,
The dreams undreamed, my meed of Paradise?
--Nay, I can pay naught; your poor bankrupt I,
Since gold may not nor frankincense nor myrrh
Serve my account nor any gift of kings.
Yet be my wealth yours, joys that fools deny,
Knowledge of life, love, power as presbyter,
The wit to teach youth's zeal to use its wings.


Scheme ABABBABCDEFDEF
Poetic Form
Metre 1111111111 1101011111 1111110101 1111110101 1111110100 1001101101 0101011111 010111110 1111111101 111111011 1101110111 1111111101 101111011 0111111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 643
Words 122
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 500
Words per stanza (avg) 119
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
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Wilfrid Scawen Blunt

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

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