Analysis of When I Was A Young Girl
Margaret Widdemer 1884 (Doylestown) – 1978
(A Song of Old Ballads)
WHEN I was a young girl, all in a green arbor,
When I was a young girl in Springtimes gone by
All the long days I went singing and smiling,
Down by the roses the sweet days beguiling,
Love in the arbor and love in the sky . . .
When I was a young girl, a young girl, a young girl,
When I was a young girl, how happy was I!
Oh, the long days I must sit at my sampler,
Oh, the slow way that the still time would go!
I longed to be running across the bright heather,
'Off with the silk gown and on with the leather,
Following the raggle-taggle gypsies, oh!'
When I was a young girl, a young girl, a young girl,
When I was a young girl, a long time ago!
When I was a young girl in days that were golden,
When I was a young girl, and life had no smart,
All the world seemed a place for my playing,
Full of great lovers to come to me, saying,
'Madam, I give you the keys of my heart . . .'
When I was a young girl, a young girl, a young girl,
When I was a young girl, and dreaming apart!
When I was a young girl, I dreamed of my lover,
A tall cavalier who should whisper me low,
'Love, on your lips are red roses a-blowing,
I am your true love, and fast is time going
Am I your true love? Oh, say yes or no!'
When I was a young girl, a young girl, a young girl–
When I was a young girl, a long time ago!
When I was a young girl there came my true lover,
Swiftly I knew him in glad days gone by;
Never a sword or a lovelock or feather,
But oh, at his touch 'twas our hearts came together,
Love in the arbor and love in the sky . . .
When I was a young girl, a young girl, a young girl,
When I was a young girl, how happy was I!
Scheme | x abccBDB aeaaeDE xfccfDf aecceDE abaaBDB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011110 111011100110 1110110111 10111110010 11010011010 1001001001 111011011011 11101111011 10111111110 1011101111 111110010110 11011011010 100011101 111011011011 11101101101 111011011010 11101101111 1011011110 11110111110 1011101111 111011011011 11101101001 111011111110 0101111011 11111110010 11111011110 1111111111 111011011011 11101101101 111011111110 1011101111 1001101110 1111111011010 1001001001 111011011011 11101111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,623 |
Words | 353 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 202 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 60 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 19, 2023
- 1:45 min read
- 173 Views
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