Analysis of Sonnet XI: The Love-Letter

Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828 (London) – 1882 (Birchington-on-Sea)



Warmed by her hand and shadowed by her hair
As close she leaned and poured her heart through thee,
Whereof the articulate throbs accompany
The smooth black stream that makes thy whiteness fair,—
Sweet fluttering sheet, even of her breath aware,—
Oh let thy silent song disclose to me
That soul wherewith her lips and eyes agree
Like married music in Love's answering air.
Fain had I watched her when, at some fond thought,
Her bosom to the writing closelier press'd,
And her breast's secrets peered into her breast;
When, through eyes raised an instant, her soul sought
My soul, and from the sudden confluence caught
The words that made her love the loveliest.


Scheme ABBAABBACDDCEC
Poetic Form
Metre 1101010101 1111010111 1001010100 0111111101 110011010101 1111010111 111010101 11010011001 1111011111 010101011 0011010101 1111110011 11010101001 01110101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 659
Words 118
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 38
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 529
Words per stanza (avg) 114
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 16, 2023

36 sec read
120

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. more…

All Dante Gabriel Rossetti poems | Dante Gabriel Rossetti Books

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