Analysis of Dead Leaves
Edward Booth Loughran 1850 (Glasgow)
When these dead leaves were green, love,
November's skies were blue,
And summer came with lips aflame,
The gentle spring to woo;
And to us, wandering hand in hand,
Life was a fairy scene,
That golden morning in the woods
When these dead leaves were green!
How dream-like now that dewy morn,
Sweet with the wattle's flowers,
When love, love, love was all our theme,
And youth and hope were ours!
Two happier hearts in all the land
There were not then, I ween,
Than those young lovers' -- yours and mine --
When these dead leaves were green.
How gaily did you pluck these leaves
From the acacia's bough,
To mark the lyric we had read --
I can repeat it now!
While came the words, like music sweet,
Your smiling lips between --
"So fold my love within your heart,"
When these dead leaves were green!
How many springs have passed since then?
Ah, wherefore should we count,
The years that sped, like waters fled
From Time's unstaying fount?
We've had our share of happiness,
Our share of care have seen;
But love alone has never flown
Since these dead leaves were green.
Your heart is kind and loving still,
Your face to me as fair,
As when, that morn, the sunshine played
Amid your golden hair.
So, dearest, sweethearts still we'll be,
As we have ever been,
And keep our love as fresh and true
As when these leaves were green.
Scheme | xaxabcxC xdxdbcxC xefexcxC xxfbxcxc xgxgxxac |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (30%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1111011 010101 01011101 010111 011100101 110101 11010001 111101 11111101 110110 111111101 0101010 110010101 101111 11110101 111101 11011111 1011 11010111 110111 11011101 110101 11110111 111101 11011111 11111 01111101 1111 111011100 1011111 11011101 111101 11110101 111111 1111011 011101 1101111 111101 011011101 111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,390 |
Words | 247 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 204 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 49 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:15 min read
- 126 Views
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"Dead Leaves" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9504/dead-leaves>.
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