Analysis of The House Of Clouds
Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806 (Kelloe) – 1861 (Florence)
I would build a cloudy House
For my thoughts to live in;
When for earth too fancy-loose
And too low for Heaven!
Hush! I talk my dream aloud---
I build it bright to see,---
I build it on the moonlit cloud,
To which I looked with thee.
Cloud-walls of the morning's grey,
Faced with amber column,---
Crowned with crimson cupola
From a sunset solemn!
May mists, for the casements, fetch,
Pale and glimmering;
With a sunbeam hid in each,
And a smell of spring.
Build the entrance high and proud,
Darkening and then brightening,---
If a riven thunder-cloud,
Veined by the lightning.
Use one with an iris-stain,
For the door within;
Turning to a sound like rain,
As I enter in.
Build a spacious hall thereby:
Boldly, never fearing.
Use the blue place of the sky,
Which the wind is clearing;
Branched with corridors sublime,
Flecked with winding stairs---
Such as children wish to climb,
Following their own prayers.
In the mutest of the house,
I will have my chamber:
Silence at the door shall use
Evening's light of amber,
Solemnising every mood,
Softemng in degree,---
Turning sadness into good,
As I turn the key.
Be my chamber tapestried
With the showers of summer,
Close, but soundless,---glorified
When the sunbeams come here;
Wandering harpers, harping on
Waters stringed for such,---
Drawing colours, for a tune,
With a vibrant touch.
Bring a shadow green and still
From the chestnut forest,
Bring a purple from the hill,
When the heat is sorest;
Spread them out from wall to wall,
Carpet-wove around,---
Whereupon the foot shall fall
In light instead of sound.
Bring the fantasque cloudlets home
From the noontide zenith
Ranged, for sculptures, round the room,---
Named as Fancy weeneth:
Some be Junos, without eyes;
Naiads, without sources
Some be birds of paradise,---
Some, Olympian horses.
Bring the dews the birds shake off,
Waking in the hedges,---
Those too, perfumed for a proof,
From the lilies' edges:
From our England's field and moor,
Bring them calm and white in;
Whence to form a mirror pure,
For Love's self-delighting.
Bring a grey cloud from the east,
Where the lark is singing;
Something of the song at least,
Unlost in the bringing:
That shall be a morning chair,
Poet-dream may sit in,
When it leans out on the air,
Unrhymed and unwritten.
Bring the red cloud from the sun
While he sinketh, catch it.
That shall be a couch,---with one
Sidelong star to watch it,---
Fit for poet's finest Thought,
At the curfew-sounding,--- ;
Things unseen being nearer brought
Than the seen, around him.
Poet's thought,----not poet's sigh!
'Las, they come together!
Cloudy walls divide and fly,
As in April weather!
Cupola and column proud,
Structure bright to see---
Gone---except that moonlit cloud,
To which I looked with thee!
Let them! Wipe such visionings
From the Fancy's cartel---
Love secures some fairer things
Dowered with his immortal.
The sun may darken,---heaven be bowed---
But still, unchanged shall be,---
Here in my soul,---that moonlit cloud,
To which I looked with THEE!
Scheme | abcdefeF xgxgxhxh ehehibib jhjhklkl amcmxfxf emxxxnxn oxoepqpq xrxrxsxs xxxstbth uhuhvbvd dwdwxhxx jmjmefeF axxxefeF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110101 111110 1111101 011110 1111101 111111 1111011 111111 1110101 111010 1110010 10110 111011 10100 101101 00111 1010101 10001100 1010101 11010 1111101 10101 1010111 11100 1010111 101010 1011101 101110 1110001 11101 1110111 100111 001101 111110 1010111 101110 11001 1001 1010011 11101 11101 1010110 11110 10111 10010101 10111 101101 10101 101101 10110 1010101 10111 1111111 10101 1010111 010111 10111 10110 1110101 11101 111011 10110 111110 1010010 1010111 100010 1101101 101010 11010101 111010 1110101 111010 1011101 101110 1010111 10010 1110101 101110 1111101 10010 1011101 11111 1110111 11111 1110101 101010 10110101 101011 1011101 111010 1010101 101010 0100101 10111 101111 111111 11111 10101 1011101 111010 011101011 110111 1011111 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 3,160 |
Words | 524 |
Sentences | 25 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 104 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 177 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 16, 2023
- 2:39 min read
- 160 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The House Of Clouds" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10393/the-house-of-clouds>.
Discuss this Elizabeth Barrett Browning poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In