Analysis of In Memoriam

William Lisle Bowles 1762 (King's Sutton) – 1850



How blessed with thee the path could I have trod
Of quiet life, above cold want's hard fate,
(And little wishing more) nor of the great
Envious, or their proud name; but it pleased GOD
To take thee to his mercy: thou didst go
In youth and beauty to thy cold death-bed;
Even whilst on dreams of bliss we fondly fed,
Of years to come of comfort! Be it so.
Ere this I have felt sorrow; and even now,
Though sometimes the unbidden tear will start,
And half unman the miserable heart,
The cold dew I shall wipe from my sad brow,
And say, since hopes of bliss on earth are vain,
Best friend, farewell, till we do meet again!


Scheme ABBACDDCEFFEGH
Poetic Form
Metre 1111011111 1101011111 0101011101 10011111111 1111110111 0101011111 10111111101 1111110111 11111100101 10101111 011010001 0111111111 0111111111 111111101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 613
Words 122
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 476
Words per stanza (avg) 120
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 15, 2023

36 sec read
71

William Lisle Bowles

William Lisle Bowles was an English poet and critic In 1783 he won the chancellors prize for Latin verse In 1789 he published in a small quarto volume Fourteen Sonnets which were received with extraordinary favour not only by the general public but by such men as Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Wordsworth The Sonnets even in form were a revival a return to an older and purer poetic style and by their grace of expression melodious versification tender tone of feeling and vivid appreciation of the life and beauty of nature stood out in strong contrast to the elaborated commonplaces which at that time formed the bulk of English poetry more…

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