Analysis of Sonnet XXIII: Love's Baubles

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



I stood where Love in brimming armfuls bore
Slight wanton flowers and foolish toys of fruit:
And round him ladies thronged in warm pursuit,
Fingered and lipped and proffered the strange store.
And from one hand the petal and the core
Savoured of sleep; and cluster and curled shoot
Seemed from another hand like shame's salute,—
Gifts that I felt my cheek was blushing for.
At last Love bade my Lady give the same:
And as I looked, the dew was light thereon;
And as I took them, at her touch they shone
With inmost heaven-hue of the heart of flame.
And then Love said: “Lo! when the hand is hers,
Follies of love are love's true ministers.”


Scheme ABBAABBACDECFF
Poetic Form
Metre 111101011 11010010111 0111010101 1001010011 0111010001 111010011 1101011101 1111111101 1111110101 0111011101 0111110111 1110110111 0111110110 1011111100
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 641
Words 122
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 502
Words per stanza (avg) 118
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
121

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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