Tess

Isaac Rosenberg 1890 (Bristol) – 1918 (Somme)



The free fair life that has never been mine, the glory that might have been,
If I were what you seem to be and what I may not be !
I know I walk upon the earth, but a dreadful wall between
My spirit and your spirit lies, your joy and my misery.

The angels that lie watching us, the little human play,
What deem they of the laughter and the tears that flow apart ?
When a word of man is a woman's doom do they turn and wonder and say,
'Ah ! Why has God made love so great that love must burst her heart ?'

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
30

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXA BCBC
Closest metre Iambic octameter
Characters 505
Words 107
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 4, 4

Isaac Rosenberg

Isaac Rosenberg was an English poet of the First World War. more…

All Isaac Rosenberg poems | Isaac Rosenberg Books

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    Quiz

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    »
    What is the term for the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.
    A Line break
    B Dithyramb
    C A turn
    D Enjambment