Analysis of Sonnet XLVIII: Death-in-Love
Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828 (London) – 1882 (Birchington-on-Sea)
There came an image in Life's retinue
That had Love's wings and bore his gonfalon:
Fair was the web, and nobly wrought thereon,
O soul-sequestered face, thy form and hue!
Bewildering sounds, such as Spring wakens to,
Shook in its folds; and through my heart its power
Sped trackless as the immemorable hour
When birth's dark portal groaned and all was new.
But a veiled woman followed, and she caught
The banner round its staff, to furl and cling,—
Then plucked a feather from the bearer's wing
And held it to his lips that stirred it not,
And said to me, “Behold, there is no breath:
I and this Love are one, and I am Death.”
Scheme | AABAACCADEEDFF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111100110 11110111 1101010101 1101011101 0100111111 10110111110 1110110 1111010111 1011010011 0101111101 110101011 0111111111 0111011111 1011110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 627 |
Words | 120 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 485 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 116 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 37 sec read
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"Sonnet XLVIII: Death-in-Love" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7681/sonnet-xlviii%3A-death-in-love>.
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