Analysis of And You, Helen

Edward Thomas 1878 (London Borough of Lambeth) – 1917 (Pas-de-Calais)



And you, Helen, what should I give you?
So many things I would give you
Had I an infinite great store
Offered me and I stood before
To choose. I would give you youth,
All kinds of loveliness and truth,
A clear eye as good as mine,
Lands, waters, flowers, wine,
As many children as your heart
Might wish for, a far better art
Than mine can be, all you have lost
Upon the travelling waters tossed,
Or given to me. If I could choose
Freely in that great treasure-house
Anything from any shelf,
I would give you back yourself,
And power to discriminate
What you want and want it not too late,
Many fair days free from care
And heart to enjoy both foul and fair,
And myself, too, if I could find
Where it lay hidden and it proved kind.


Scheme AABBCCDDEEFFGHIIJJKKLL
Poetic Form
Metre 011011111 11011111 11110011 10101101 1111111 111101 0111111 110101 11010111 11101101 11111111 010100101 110111111 10011101 101101 1111101 0101010 111011111 1011111 011011101 0111111 111100111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 717
Words 144
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 22
Lines Amount 22
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 566
Words per stanza (avg) 142
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

43 sec read
260

Edward Thomas

Philip Edward Thomas was an Anglo-Welsh poet and essayist. more…

All Edward Thomas poems | Edward Thomas Books

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