Analysis of Fatima
Alfred Lord Tennyson 1809 – 1892
O LOVE, Love, Love! O withering might!
O sun, that from thy noonday height
Shudderest when I strain my sight,
Throbbing thro' all thy heat and light,
Lo, falling from my constant mind,
Lo, parch'd and wither'd, deaf and blind,
I whirl like leaves in roaring wind.
Last night I wasted hateful hours
Below the city's eastern towers:
I thirsted for the brooks, the showers:
I roll'd among the tender flowers:
I crush'd them on my breast, my mouth;
I look'd athwart the burning drouth
Of that long desert to the south.
Last night, when some one spoke his name,
From my swift blood that went and came
A thousand little shafts of flame
Were shiver'd in my narrow frame.
O Love, O fire! once he drew
With one long kiss my whole soul thro'
My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew.
Before he mounts the hill, I know
He cometh quickly: from below
Sweet gales, as from deep gardens, blow
Before him, striking on my brow.
In my dry brain my spirit soon,
Down-deepening from swoon to swoon,
Faints like a daled morning moon.
The wind sounds like a silver wire,
And from beyond the noon a fire
Is pour'd upon the hills, and nigher
The skies stoop down in their desire;
And, isled in sudden seas of light,
My heart, pierced thro' with fierce delight,
Bursts into blossom in his sight.
My whole soul waiting silently,
All naked in a sultry sky,
Droops blinded with his shining eye:
I will possess him or will die.
I will grow round him in his place,
Grow, live, die looking on his face,
Die, dying clasp'd in his embrace.
Scheme | AAAABBB CCCCDDD EEEEFFF GGGXHHH IIFIAAA XJJJKKK |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111001 1111111 111111 10111101 11011101 11010101 11110101 111101010 010101010 11101010 110101010 11111111 11010101 11110101 11111111 11111101 01010111 01001101 11110111 11111111 111111 01110111 11010101 11111101 01110111 01111101 11001111 1101101 011101010 010101010 11010101 011101010 01010111 11111101 10110011 11110100 11000101 11011101 11011111 11111011 11110111 11010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,615 |
Words | 279 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 193 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 25, 2023
- 1:26 min read
- 170 Views
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"Fatima" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/978/fatima>.
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