Analysis of Cousin Kate
Christina Georgina Rossetti 1830 (London) – 1894 (London)
I was a cottage maiden
Hardened by sun and air
Contented with my cottage mates,
Not mindful I was fair.
Why did a great lord find me out,
And praise my flaxen hair?
Why did a great lord find me out,
To fill my heart with care?
He lured me to his palace home -
Woe's me for joy thereof-
To lead a shameless shameful life,
His plaything and his love.
He wore me like a silken knot,
He changed me like a glove;
So now I moan, an unclean thing,
Who might have been a dove.
O Lady kate, my cousin Kate,
You grew more fair than I:
He saw you at your father's gate,
Chose you, and cast me by.
He watched your steps along the lane,
Your work among the rye;
He lifted you from mean estate
To sit with him on high.
Because you were so good and pure
He bound you with his ring:
The neighbors call you good and pure,
Call me an outcast thing.
Even so I sit and howl in dust,
You sit in gold and sing:
Now which of us has tenderer heart?
You had the stronger wing.
O cousin Kate, my love was true,
Your love was writ in sand:
If he had fooled not me but you,
If you stood where I stand,
He'd not have won me with his love
Nor bought me with his land;
I would have spit into his face
And not have taken his hand.
Yet I've a gift you have not got,
And seem not like to get:
For all your clothes and wedding-ring
I've little doubt you fret.
My fair-haired son, my shame, my pride,
Cling closer, closer yet:
Your father would give his lands for one
To wear his coronet.
Scheme | abxbCbCb xdxdedfd ghghxhgh ififxfxf jkjkdkxk elflxlal |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101010 101101 01011101 110111 11011111 01111 11011111 111111 11111101 11111 11010101 11011 11110101 111101 11111011 111101 11011101 111111 11111101 110111 11110101 110101 11011101 111111 01101101 111111 01011101 11111 101110101 110101 1111111 110101 11011111 111101 11111111 111111 11111111 111111 11110111 0111011 11011111 011111 11110101 110111 11111111 110101 110111111 111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,455 |
Words | 301 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 183 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 50 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 1:31 min read
- 200 Views
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"Cousin Kate" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5768/cousin-kate>.
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