Analysis of To Phoebe
William Schwenck Gilbert 1836 – 1911
"GENTLE, modest little flower,
Sweet epitome of May,
Love me but for half an hour,
Love me, love me, little fay."
Sentences so fiercely flaming
In your tiny shell-like ear,
I should always be exclaiming
If I loved you, PHOEBE dear.
"Smiles that thrill from any distance
Shed upon me while I sing!
Please ecstaticize existence,
Love me, oh, thou fairy thing!"
Words like these, outpouring sadly
You'd perpetually hear,
If I loved you fondly, madly; -
But I do not, PHOEBE dear.
Scheme | ABABCDCE FCFCGDGE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10101010 1010011 11111110 1111101 10011010 0110111 1111010 1111101 11111010 1011111 11010 1111101 1111010 1010001 11111010 1111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 469 |
Words | 87 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 183 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 25 sec read
- 133 Views
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"To Phoebe" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41351/to-phoebe>.
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