Analysis of Woodspurge

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



The wind flapped loose, the wind was still,
Shaken out dead from tree and hill:
I had walk’d on at the wind’s will,—
I sat now, for the wind was still.

Between my knees my forehead was,—
My lips, drawn in, said not Alas!
My hair was over in the grass,
My naked ears heard the day pass.

My eyes, wide open, had the run
Of some ten weeds to fix upon;
Among those few, out of the sun,
The woodspurge flower’d, three cups in one.

From perfect grief there need not be
Wisdom or even memory:
One thing learnt remains to me,—
The woodspurge has a cup of three.


Scheme AAAA XBBB CXCC DDDD
Poetic Form Quatrain  (75%)
Metre 01110111 10111101 11111011 11110111 01111101 11101101 11110001 11011011 11110101 11111101 01111101 0111101 10111111 10110100 1110111 0110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 558
Words 115
Sentences 6
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 104
Words per stanza (avg) 28
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 25, 2023

34 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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