Respectability

Robert Browning 1812 (Camberwell) – 1889 (Venice)



I.

Dear, had the world in its caprice
  Deigned to proclaim ``I know you both,
  ``Have recognized your plighted troth,
Am sponsor for you: live in peace!''---
How many precious months and years
  Of youth had passed, that speed so fast,
  Before we found it out at last,
The world, and what it fears?

II.

How much of priceless life were spent
  With men that every virtue decks,
  And women models of their sex,
Society's true ornament,---
Ere we dared wander, nights like this,
  Thro' wind and rain, and watch the Seine,
  And feel the Boulevart break again
To warmth and light and bliss?

III.

I know! the world proscribes not love;
  Allows my finger to caress
  Your lips' contour and downiness,
Provided it supply a glove.
The world's good word!---the Institute!
  Guizot receives Montalembert!
  Eh? Down the court three lampions flare:
Put forward your best foot!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 11, 2023

46 sec read
203

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBACDDC XEEXFXXF GXAGXDXX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 855
Words 152
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8

Robert Browning

Robert Browning was the father of poet Robert Browning. more…

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