Analysis of Sonnet LXV: Known in Vain
Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828 (London) – 1882 (Birchington-on-Sea)
As two whose love, first foolish, widening scope,
Knows suddenly, to music high and soft,
The Holy of holies; who because they scoff'd
Are now amazed with shame, nor dare to cope
With the whole truth aloud, lest heaven should ope;
Yet, at their meetings, laugh not as they laugh'd
In speech; nor speak, at length; but sitting oft
Together, within hopeless sight of hope
For hours are silent:—So it happeneth
When Work and Will awake too late, to gaze
After their life sailed by, and hold their breath.
Ah! who shall dare to search through what sad maze
Thenceforth their incommunicable ways
Follow the desultory feet of Death?
Scheme | ABCAADCAEFEFFE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111101001 1100110101 0101110111 1101111111 10110111011 1111011111 0111111101 0100110111 110110111 1101011111 1011110111 1111111111 1111 100100111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 623 |
Words | 112 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 494 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 109 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 34 sec read
- 133 Views
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"Sonnet LXV: Known in Vain" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7644/sonnet-lxv%3A--known-in-vain>.
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