Analysis of Sonnet XXXVI: When We Met First
Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806 (Kelloe) – 1861 (Florence)
When we met first and loved, I did not build
Upon the event with marble. Could it mean
To last, a love set pendulous between
Sorrow and sorrow? Nay, I rather thrilled,
Distrusting every light that seemed to gild
The onward path, and feared to overlean
A finger even. And, though I have grown serene
And strong since then, I think that God has willed
A still renewable fear ... O love, O troth ...
Lest these enclasped hands should never hold,
This mutual kiss drop down between us both
As an unowned thing, once the lips being cold.
And Love, be false! if he, to keep one oath,
Must lose one joy, by his life's star foretold.
Scheme | ABBAABBACDCDCD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111011111 01001110111 1101110001 1001011101 110011111 01010111 010100111101 0111111111 01010011111 11111101 11001110111 1111101101 0111111111 1111111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 620 |
Words | 118 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 481 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 118 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 134 Views
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"Sonnet XXXVI: When We Met First" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10376/sonnet-xxxvi%3A-when-we-met-first>.
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