Analysis of Sorrow’s Importunity
Alfred Austin 1835 (Leeds) – 1913 (Ashford)
When Sorrow first came wailing to my door,
April rehearsed the madrigal of May;
And, as I ne'er had seen her face before,
I kept on singing, and she went her way.
When next came Sorrow, life was winged with scent
Of glistening laurel and full-blossoming bay:
I asked, but understood not, what she meant,
Offered her flowers, and she went her way.
When yet a third time Sorrow came, we met
In the ripe silence of an Autumn day:
I gave her fruit I had gathered, and she ate,
Then seemed to go unwillingly away.
When last came Sorrow, around barn and byre
Wind-carven snow, the Year's white sepulchre, lay.
``Come in,'' I said, ``and warm you by the fire.''
And there she sits, and never goes away.
Scheme | ABAB CBCB XBXB ABXB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1101110111 1001010011 0111110101 1111001101 1111011111 110010011001 111011111 1001001101 1101110111 0011011101 11011110011 1111010001 1111001101 11101111 11111111010 0111010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 688 |
Words | 133 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 133 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 90 Views
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"Sorrow’s Importunity" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/792/sorrow%E2%80%99s-importunity>.
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