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 Views
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"Discontent" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10225/discontent>.
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