Analysis of Venus's Looking-Glass

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



I marked where lovely Venus and her court
With song and dance and merry laugh went by;
Weightless, their wingless feet seemed made to fly,
Bound from the ground and in mid air to sport.
Left far behind I heard the dolphins snort,
Tracking their goddess with a wistful eye,
Around whose head white doves rose, wheeling high
Or low, and cooed after their tender sort.
All this I saw in Spring. Through Summer heat
I saw the lovely Queen of Love no more.
But when flushed Autumn through the woodlands went
I spied sweet Venus walk amid the wheat:
Whom seeing, every harvester gave o'er
His toil, and laughed and hoped and was content.


Scheme ABBAABBACDECFE
Poetic Form
Metre 1111010001 1101010111 101111111 1101001111 1101110101 1011010101 0111111101 1101101101 1111011101 1101011111 111101011 1111010101 110100100110 1101010110
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 639
Words 117
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 501
Words per stanza (avg) 115
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 23, 2023

35 sec read
80

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…

All Christina Georgina Rossetti poems | Christina Georgina Rossetti Books

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