Analysis of At the Stage Door

Arthur Symons 1865 (Milford Haven) – 1945



Kicking my heels in the street,
Here at the edge of the pavement I wait for you, sweet,
Here in the crowd, the blent noises, blurred lights, of the street.

Under the archway sheer,
Sudden and black as a hole in the placarded wall,
Faces flicker and veer,
Wavering out of the darkness into the light,
Wavering back into night;
Under the archway, suddenly seen, the curls
And thin, bright faces of girls,
Roving eyes, and smiling lips, and the glance
Seeking, finding perchance,
Here at the edge of the pavement, there by the wall,
One face, out of them all.

Steadily, face after face,
Cheeks with the blush of the paint yet lingering, eyes
Still with their circle of black ...
But hers, but hers?
Rose-leaf cheeks, and flower-soft lips, and the grace
Of the vanishing Spring come back,
And a child's heart blithe in the sudden and sweet surprise,
Subtly expectant, that stirs
In the smile of her heart to my heart, of her eyes to my eyes


Scheme AAA BCBDDEEFFCC GHIJGIHJH
Poetic Form
Metre 1011001 1101101011111 1001011011101 10011 10011010011 101001 100110100101 1001011 1001100101 0111011 1010101001 101001 110110101101 111111 1001101 110110111001 1111011 1010 11101011001 10100111 0011100100101 10001011 001101111101111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 924
Words 171
Sentences 5
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 3, 11, 9
Lines Amount 23
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 242
Words per stanza (avg) 57
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

51 sec read
113

Arthur Symons

Arthur William Symons, was a British poet, critic and magazine editor. more…

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