Analysis of If you were mine, if you were mine,
Alfred Austin 1835 (Leeds) – 1913 (Ashford)
`If you were mine, if you were mine,
The day would dawn, the stars would shine,
The sun would set, the moon arise,
In holier and yet heavenlier skies.
Then unto me the Year would bring
A younger April, fresher Spring.
I should not then seek sylvan ways
For primrose clusters, woodbine sprays,
To hear the mavis' matin tale,
Or nocturn of the nightingale.
For at your coming there would pass
A glow, a glory, o'er the grass,
The flowers would in your gaze rejoice,
The wildwood carol in your voice,
Returning gleam chase lingering gloom,
And life be never out of bloom,
If you were mine!
`If you were mine, I should not know
In what fair month the roses blow,
When the pure lily bares her brow,
Or ringdoves coo their nuptial vow.
For, with your hand soft-clasped in mine,
I still should smell the eglantine,
And, wheresoe'er our steps should stray,
The incense of the new-mown hay.
By restless wave or restful mere,
In wanderings far or wanderings near,
On cheerful down, in pensive glen,
It would be always Summer then,
If you were mine.
`If you were mine, I should not fear
The warnings of the waning year,
The garnering sickle, girdled sheaf,
The falling acorn, floating leaf,
Moisture of eve and haze of morn,
Pearls turned to rubies on the thorn,
The silvering tress on fading brow,
The dimples that are furrows now.
For, leaving summits once I clomb,
With you, would seem but wending home.
Leaning on love in life's decline,
More sweet the shadow than the shine,
The cushat's perch than swallow's wing,
And Autumn peace than pomp of Spring,
If you were mine.
`If you were mine, how then should I
Heed frozen fallow, churlish sky,
Bleak, songless branches, sapless rind,
The wailing of the homeless wind,
The dwindling days, the deepening snow,
The dull, dead weight of wintry woe?
For, harkening to the Christmas peal
Without, our hearts within would feel,
In glowing rafter, flickering blaze,
The sunshine of departed days,
And round the hearth dear memories swarm
To keep life young, to keep love warm,
If you were mine.'
`Yet you are mine, yes, you are mine.
No length of land, no breadth of brine,
Can keep whom spirit links, apart,
Or make an exile of the heart.
And when from soul, no more the thrall
Of sense, the fleshly fetters fall,
And, purified by combats past,
Long-martyred love is crowned at last,
You then before the Heavenly Throne
Will take my hand, nor blush to own,
That you were mine!'
When June is wreathed with wilding rose
When June is wreathed with wilding rose,
And all the buds are blown,
And O, 'tis joy to dream and doze
In meadows newly mown,
Go take her where the graylings leap,
And where the dabchick dives,
Or where the bees from clover reap
The harvest for their hives;
For Summer is the season when,
If you but know the way,
A maid that's kissed will kiss again,
And pelt you with the hay,
The hay,
And pelt you with the hay.
Scheme | aabbccddeeffgghhA iijjaakkllmmA llnnoojjhxaaccA ppqqiirrddssA aattuuvvwwa XXwxayzyzmkmKkK |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011101 01110111 01110101 01000111 11010111 01010101 11111101 111011 1101011 1110100 11110111 010101001 010101101 0110011 010111001 01110111 1101 11011111 01110101 10110101 1111101 11111101 1111010 0110111 00110111 11011101 0100111001 11010101 1111101 1101 11011111 01010101 01001011 01010101 10110111 11110101 0111101 0101111 11010111 11111101 10110101 1101101 011111 01011111 1101 11011111 1101101 111011 01010101 0100101001 01111101 1110101 011010111 010101001 0110101 010111001 11111111 1101 11111111 11111111 11110101 1111101 01111101 1101101 0101011 11011111 110101001 11111111 1101 11111101 11111101 010111 01111101 01101 1101011 010101 11011101 010111 11010101 111101 01111101 011101 01 011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,793 |
Words | 524 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 17, 13, 15, 13, 11, 15 |
Lines Amount | 84 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 372 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 87 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 2:38 min read
- 81 Views
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"If you were mine, if you were mine," Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/738/if-you-were-mine%2C-if-you-were-mine%2C>.
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