Analysis of The House of Life: 97. A Superscription
Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828 (London) – 1882 (Birchington-on-Sea)
Look in my face; my name is Might-have-been;
I am also call'd No-more, Too-late, Farewell;
Unto thine ear I hold the dead-sea shell
Cast up thy Life's foam-fretted feet between;
Unto thine eyes the glass where that is seen
Which had Life's form and Love's, but by my spell
Is now a shaken shadow intolerable,
Of ultimate things unutter'd the frail screen.
Mark me, how still I am! But should there dart
One moment through thy soul the soft surprise
Of that wing'd Peace which lulls the breath of sighs,--
Then shalt thou see me smile, and turn apart
Thy visage to mine ambush at thy heart
Sleepless with cold commemorative eyes.
Scheme | XAABBAXB CDDCCD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011111111 1110111111 1011110111 1111110101 1011011111 1111011111 11010101000 110011011 1111111111 1101110101 1111110111 1111110101 110111111 101101001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 693 |
Words | 115 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 6 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 245 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 56 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 38 Views
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"The House of Life: 97. A Superscription" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7739/the-house-of-life%3A-97.-a-superscription>.
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