Analysis of Modern Beauty
Arthur Symons 1865 (Milford Haven) – 1945
I am the torch, she saith, and what to me
If the moth die of me? I am the flame
Of Beauty, and I burn that all may see
Beauty, and I have neither joy nor shame.
But live with that clear light of perfect fire
Which is to men the death of their desire.
I am Yseult and Helen, I have seen
Troy burn, and the most loving knight lies dead.
The world has been my mirror, time has been
My breath upon the glass; and men have said,
Age after age, in rapture and despair,
Love's poor few words, before my image there.
I live, and am immortal; in my eyes
The sorrow of the world, and on my lips
The joy of life, mingle to make me wise;
Yet now the day is darkened with eclipse:
Who is there lives for beauty? Still am I
The torch, but where's the moth that still dares die?
Scheme | ABABCC XDXDEE FGFGHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101110111 1011111101 1100111111 1001110111 11111110110 11110111010 111010111 1100110111 0111110111 1101010111 1101010001 1111011101 1101010011 0101010111 0111101111 1101110101 1111110111 0111011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 754 |
Words | 160 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 18 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 193 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 53 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 28, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 75 Views
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"Modern Beauty" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/3986/modern-beauty>.
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