Analysis of Paradise: In A Dream
Christina Georgina Rossetti 1830 (London) – 1894 (London)
Once in a dream I saw the flowers
That bud and bloom in Paradise;
More fair they are than waking eyes
Have seen in all this world of ours.
And faint the perfume-bearing rose,
And faint the lily on its stem,
And faint the perfect violet
Compared with them.
I heard the songs of Paradise:
Each bird sat singing in his place;
A tender song so full of grace
It soared like incense to the skies.
Each bird sat singing to his mate
Soft cooing notes among the trees:
The nightingale herself were cold
To such as these.
I saw the fourfold River flow,
And deep it was, with golden sand;
It flowed between a mossy land
With murmured music grave and low.
It hath refreshment for all thirst,
For fainting spirits strength and rest:
Earth holds not such a draught as this
From east to west.
The Tree of Life stood budding there,
Abundant with its twelvefold fruits;
Eternal sap sustains its roots,
Its shadowing branches fill the air.
Its leaves are healing for the world,
Its fruit the hungry world can feed,
Sweeter than honey to the taste
And balm indeed.
I saw the gate called Beautiful;
And looked, but scarce could look, within;
I saw the golden streets begin,
And outskirts of the glassy pool.
Oh harps, oh crowns of plenteous stars,
Oh green palm-branches many-leaved—
Eye hath not seen, nor ear hath heard,
Nor heart conceived.
I hope to see these things again,
But not as once in dreams by night;
To see them with my very sight,
And touch, and handle, and attain:
To have all Heaven beneath my feet
For narrow way that once they trod;
To have my part with all the saints,
And with my God.
Scheme | ABCAXDED BFFCXGXG HIIHXJXJ KLLKXMXM XNNXXEXX XOOXXPXP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 100111010 1101010 11111101 110111110 01001101 01010111 01001100 0111 1101110 11110011 01011111 11101101 11110111 11010101 01000101 1111 11011101 01111101 1101011 11010101 11010111 11010101 11110111 1111 01111101 0101111 01010111 110010101 11110101 11010111 10110101 0101 11011100 01111101 11010101 0110101 1111111 11110101 11111111 1101 11111101 11110111 11111101 01010001 111100111 11011111 11111101 0111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,552 |
Words | 296 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 207 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 49 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:28 min read
- 184 Views
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"Paradise: In A Dream" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 16 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5891/paradise%3A-in-a-dream>.
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