Analysis of Discontent

Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806 (Kelloe) – 1861 (Florence)



LIGHT human nature is too lightly tost
And ruffled without cause, complaining on--
Restless with rest, until, being overthrown,
It learneth to lie quiet. Let a frost
Or a small wasp have crept to the inner-most
Of our ripe peach, or let the wilful sun
Shine westward of our window,--straight we run
A furlong's sigh as if the world were lost.
But what time through the heart and through the brain
God hath transfixed us,--we, so moved before,
Attain to a calm. Ay, shouldering weights of pain,
We anchor in deep waters, safe from shore,
And hear submissive o'er the stormy main
God's chartered judgments walk for evermore.


Scheme ABCAADDAEFEFEF
Poetic Form
Metre 1101011101 0100110101 1011011001 111110101 10111110101 1101111011 11011010111 011110101 1111010101 1101111101 011011100111 1100110111 01010100101 110101110
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 617
Words 112
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 488
Words per stanza (avg) 108
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 17, 2023

34 sec read
113

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most prominent English poets of the Victorian era. more…

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