Analysis of 'If I were dead'
Coventry Patmore 1823 (Woodford, London) – 1896 (Lymington)
'IF I were dead, you'd sometimes say, Poor Child!'
The dear lips quiver'd as they spake,
And the tears brake
From eyes which, not to grieve me, brightly smiled.
Poor Child, poor Child!
I seem to hear your laugh, your talk, your song.
It is not true that Love will do no wrong.
Poor Child!
And did you think, when you so cried and smiled,
How I, in lonely nights, should lie awake,
And of those words your full avengers make?
Poor Child, poor Child!
And now, unless it be
That sweet amends thrice told are come to thee,
O God, have Thou no mercy upon me!
Poor Child!
Scheme | abbaAccAabbAdddA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101101111 0111111 0011 1111111101 1111 1111111111 1111111111 11 0111111101 1101011101 01111111 1111 010111 1101111111 1111110011 11 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 573 |
Words | 112 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 426 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 109 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 33 sec read
- 67 Views
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"'If I were dead'" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7341/%27if-i-were-dead%27>.
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