Analysis of Sonnet XVI: And Yet, Because Thou

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



And yet, because thou overcomest so,
Because thou art more noble and like a king,
Thou canst prevail against my fears and fling
Thy purple round me, till my heart shall grow
Too close against thine heart henceforth to know
How it shook when alone. Why, conquering
May prove as lordly and complete a thing
In lifting upward, as in crushing low!
And as a vanquished soldier yields his sword
To one who lifts him from the bloody earth;
Even so, Belovèd, I at last record,
Here ends my strife. If thou invite me forth,
I rise above abasement at the word.
Make thy love larger to enlarge my worth.


Scheme ABBAABBACDCEFD
Poetic Form
Metre 0101111 01111100101 1101011101 1101111111 1101111111 1111011100 111100101 0101010101 0101010111 1111110101 10110111101 1111110111 11011101 1111010111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 601
Words 112
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 466
Words per stanza (avg) 110
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
126

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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

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