Analysis of If

Christina Georgina Rossetti 1830 (London) – 1894 (London)



If he would come to-day, to-day, to-day,
O, what a day to-day would be!
But now he's away, miles and miles away
From me across the sea.

O little bird, flying, flying, flying
To your nest in the warm west,
Tell him as you pass that I am dying,
As you pass home to your nest.

I have a sister, I have a brother,
A faithful hound, a tame white dove;
But I had another, once I had another,
And I miss him, my love, my love!

In this weary world it is so cold, so cold,
While I sit here all alone;
I would not like to wait and to grow old,
But just to be dead and gone.

Make me fair when I lie dead on my bed,
Fair where I am lying:
Perhaps he may come and look upon me dead—
He for whom I am dying.

Dig my grave for two, with a stone to show it,
And on the stone write my name;
If he never comes, I shall never know it,
But sleep on all the same.


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GXGX HCHC IJIJ
Poetic Form Quatrain  (83%)
Metre 1111111111 11011111 1110110101 110101 1101101010 1110011 1111111110 1111111 1101011010 01010111 111010111010 01111111 01101111111 1111101 1111110111 1111101 1111111111 111110 01111010111 1111110 11111101111 0101111 11101111011 111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 829
Words 185
Sentences 8
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 103
Words per stanza (avg) 31
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

55 sec read
92

Christina Georgina Rossetti

Christina Georgina Rossetti was an English poet who wrote various romantic, devotional, and children's poems. "Goblin Market" and "Remember" remain famous. She wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in the UK: "In the Bleak Midwinter", later set by Gustav Holst and by Harold Darke, and "Love Came Down at Christmas", set by Harold Darke and by other composers. more…

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