Analysis of The Passing of the Hours
Ella Higginson 1862 – 1940
The hours steal by with still, unasking lips—
So lightly that I cannot hear their tread;
And softly touch me with their finger-tips
To find if I be dreaming, or be dead.
And yet however still their flight may be,
Their ceaseless going weights my heart with tears;
These touches will have wrought deep scars on me—
When the light hours have worn to heavy years.
Scheme | ABAB CXCX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (50%) |
Metre | 010111111 1101110111 0101111101 1111110111 011011111 1101011111 1101111111 10110111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 377 |
Words | 66 |
Sentences | 2 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 8 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 143 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
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