Analysis of Sonnet XXXI

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



Thou comest ! all is said without a word.
I sit beneath thy looks, as children do
In the noon-sun, with souls that tremble through
Their happy eyelids from an unaverred
Yet prodigal inward joy. Behold, I erred
In that last doubt ! and yet I cannot rue
The sin most, but the occasion--that we two
Should for a moment stand unministered
By a mutual presence. Ah, keep near and close,
Thou dovelike help ! and, when my fears would rise,
With thy broad heart serenely interpose:
Brood down with thy divine sufficiencies
These thoughts which tremble when bereft of those,
Like callow birds left desert to the skies.


Scheme ABBACBBADEFDFE
Poetic Form
Metre 111110101 1101111101 0011111101 1101111 11001010111 0111011101 01110010111 1101011 101001011101 111011111 1111010001 1111011 1111010111 1101110101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 605
Words 108
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 482
Words per stanza (avg) 109
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
122

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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

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