Analysis of Eurydice: Listening: A Picture By Burne Jones
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward 1844 (Andover) – 1911
As sentient as a wedding-bell,
The vibrant air throbs calling her
Whose eager body, earwise curved,
Leans listening at the heart of hell.
She is one nerve of hearing, strained
To love and suffer, hope and fear-
Thus, hearkening for her Love, she waits,
Whom no man's daring heart has gained.
Oh, to be sound to such an ear!
Song, carol, vesper, comfort near,
Sweet words, at sweetest, whispered low,
Or dearer silence, happiest so.
By little languages of love
Her finer audience to prove;
A tenderness untried, to fit
To soul and sense so exquisite;
The blessed Orpheus to be
At last, to such Eurydice!
I listened in hell! I listened in hell!
Down in the dark I heard your soul
Singing mine out to the holy sun.
Deep in the dark I heard your feet
Ringing the way of Love in hell.
Into the flame you strode and stood.
Out of the flame you bore me well,
As I listened in hell.
I listen in hell! I listen in hell!
Who trod the fire? Where was the scorch?
Clutched, clasped, and saved, what a tale was to tell
-Heaven come down to hell!
Oh, like a spirit you strove for my sake!
Oh, like a man you looked back for your own!
Back, though you loved me heavenly well,
Back, though you lost me. The gods did decree,
And I listen in hell.
Scheme | AXXABCDB XCEEXXXXFD AXXXAXAA AXAAXXAFA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110101 01011100 1101011 110010111 11111101 11010101 1110111 11110111 11111111 11010101 11110101 110101001 11010011 01010011 01000111 11011100 0110011 11111 1100111001 10011111 101110101 10011111 10011101 01011101 11011111 111001 1100111001 110101101 1101101111 101111 1101011111 1101111111 111111001 1111101101 011001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,211 |
Words | 241 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 10, 8, 9 |
Lines Amount | 35 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 235 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 59 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 23, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 114 Views
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"Eurydice: Listening: A Picture By Burne Jones" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/42905/eurydice%3A-listening%3A-a-picture-by-burne-jones>.
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