Analysis of A Comedy
Edith Nesbit 1858 (Kennington, Surrey ) – 1924 (New Romney, Kent)
MADAM, you bade me act a part,
A comedy of your devising--
Forbade me to consult my heart,
To be sincere--or compromising.
The play was not my own device,
My stage-struck youth lies far behind me;
And yet--I thought it would be nice
To play the part that you assigned me.
Thus have I learned my rôle so well
That, as I play, you question whether
Fate has not taught your jest a spell
To bind me to you altogether.
The truth is this: so ill I wrought
In mastering the part you gave me,
That now 'tis tyrant of my thought,
And nothing in the world can save me!
Between me and my work, your face,
In haunting fashion, daily lingers;
Your eyes make mine their dwelling place
Your dream-hand thrills my idle fingers.
Through death-white nights I dream of you--
Of what might move, and what has moved you--
Ah! no! There's nothing you can do!...
...It's not as though I really loved you.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GDGD HIHI JJJJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 10111101 010011010 01110111 11011100 01111101 111111011 01111111 110111011 111111011 111111010 11111101 11111010 01111111 010001111 11110111 010001111 01101111 010101010 11111101 111111010 11111111 111101111 11110111 111111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 890 |
Words | 168 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 112 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 28 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 31, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 106 Views
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"A Comedy" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8755/a-comedy>.
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