Analysis of A Passing Bell
David Herbert Lawrence 1885 (Eastwood, Nottinghamshire) – 1930 (Vence)
Mournfully to and fro, to and fro the trees are waving;
What did you say, my dear?
The rain-bruised leaves are suddenly shaken, as a child
Asleep still shakes in the clutch of a sob—
Yes, my love, I hear.
One lonely bell, one only, the storm-tossed afternoon is braving,
Why not let it ring?
The roses lean down when they hear it, the tender, mild
Flowers of the bleeding-heart fall to the throb—
It is such a little thing!
A wet bird walks on the lawn, call to the boy to come and look,
Yes, it is over now.
Call to him out of the silence, call him to see
The starling shaking its head as it walks in the grass—
Ah, who knows how?
He cannot see it, I can never show it him, how it shook—
Don’t disturb him, darling.
—Its head as it walked: I can never call him to me,
Never, he is not, whatever shall come to pass.
No, look at the wet starling.
Scheme | AXBCX AABCA DEFGE DAFGA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (20%) |
Metre | 110110101110 111111 0111110010101 0111001101 11111 110111001101110 11111 0101111110101 10101011101 1110101 011110111011101 111101 111110101111 0101011111001 1111 110111110111111 101110 1111111101111 10111101111 1110110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 861 |
Words | 172 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 159 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 43 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 113 Views
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