Analysis of World's Worth

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



'TIS of the Father Hilary.
He strove, but could not pray; so took
The steep-coiled stair, where his feet shook
A sad blind echo. Ever up
He toiled. 'Twas a sick sway of air
That autumn noon within the stair,
As dizzy as a turning cup.
His brain benumbed him, void and thin;
He shut his eyes and felt it spin;
The obscure deafness hemmed him in.
He said: “O world, what world for me?”
He leaned unto the balcony
Where the chime keeps the night and day;
It hurt his brain, he could not pray.
He had his face upon the stone:
Deep 'twixt the narrow shafts, his eye
Passed all the roofs to the stark sky,
Swept with no wing, with wind alone.
Close to his feet the sky did shake
With wind in pools that the rains make;
The ripple set his eyes to ache.
He said: “O world, what world for me?”

He stood within the mystery
Girding God's blessed Eucharist:
The organ and the chaunt had ceas'd.
The last words paused against his ear
Said from the altar: drawn round him
The gathering rest was dumb and dim.
And now the sacring-bell rang clear
And ceased; and all was awe,—the breath
Of God in man that warranteth
The inmost utmost things of faith.
He said: “O God, my world in Thee!”


Scheme abbcddceeeAaffghhgiiiA axxxjjxkkxa
Poetic Form
Metre 11010100 11111111 01111111 01110101 11101111 11010101 11010101 1111101 11110111 00110110 11111111 11100100 10110101 11111111 11110101 11010111 11011011 11111101 11110111 11011011 01011111 11111111 11010100 1011100 01000111 01110111 11010111 010011101 0101111 01011101 110111 011111 11111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,193
Words 232
Sentences 15
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 22, 11
Lines Amount 33
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 447
Words per stanza (avg) 113
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:10 min read
34

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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