Analysis of Fatima



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
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

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular British poets.  more…

All Alfred Lord Tennyson poems | Alfred Lord Tennyson Books

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