Analysis of A Woman's Love
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
So vast the tide of Love within me surging,
It overflows like some stupendous sea,
The confines of the Present and To-be;
And 'gainst the Past's high wall I feel it urging,
As it would cry "Thou too shalt yield to me!"
All other loves my supreme love embodies;
I would be she on whose soft bosom nursed
Thy clinging infant lips to quench their thirst;
She who trod close to hidden worlds where God is,
That she might have, and hold, and see thee first.
I would be she who stirred the vague fond fancies,
Of thy still childish heart; who through bright days
Went sporting with thee in the old-time plays,
And caught the sunlight of thy boyish glances
In half-forgotten and long-buried Mays.
Forth to the end, and back to the beginning,
My love would send its inundating tide,
Wherein all landmarks of thy past should hide.
If thy life's lesson must be learned through sinning,
My grieving virtue would become thy guide.
For I would share the burden of thy errors,
So when the sun of our brief life had set,
If thou didst walk in darkness and regret,
E'en in that shadowy world of nameless terrors,
My soul and thine should be companions yet.
And I would cross with thee those troubled oceans
Of dark remorse whose waters are despair:
All things my jealous reckless love would dare,
So that thou mightst not recollect emotions
In which it did not have a part and share.
There is no limit to my love's full measure,
Its spirit gold is shaped by earth's alloy;
I would be friend and mother, mate and toy,
I'd have thee look to me for every pleasure,
And in me find all memories of joy.
Yet though I love thee in such selfish fashion,
I would wait on thee, sitting at thy feet,
And serving thee, if thou didst deem it meet.
And couldst thou give me one fond hour of passion,
I'd take that hour and call my life complete.
Scheme | ABBAB CDDED CFFEF AGGAG HIIHI JKKJK LMMLM NOONO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11011101110 110110101 011010011 01011111110 1111111111 11011011010 1111111101 1101011111 11111101111 1111010111 11111101110 1111011111 1101100111 0101111010 0101001101 11010110010 111111001 011111111 11110111110 1101010111 11110101110 11011101111 1111010001 1101100111010 1101110101 01111111010 1101110101 1111010111 1111101010 0111110101 11110111110 110111111 1111010101 111111110010 0011110011 11111011010 1111110111 0101111111 011111110110 11110011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,816 |
Words | 342 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 178 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:44 min read
- 82 Views
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"A Woman's Love" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10504/a-woman%27s-love>.
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