Analysis of Communism

Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919



When my blood flows calm as a purling river,
 When my heart is asleep and my brain has sway,
It is then that I vow we must part for ever,
 That I will forget you, and put you away
Out of my life, as a dream is banished
 Out of the mind when the dreamer awakes;
That I know it will be when the spell has vanished,
 Better for both of our sakes.

When the court of the mind is ruled by Reason,
 I know it wiser for us to part;
But Love is a spy who is plotting treason,
 In league with that warm, red rebel, the Heart.
They whisper to me that the King is cruel,
 That his reign is wicked, his law a sin,
And every word they utter is fuel
 To the flame that smoulders within.

And on nights like this, when my blood runs riot
 With the fever of youth and its mad desires,
When my brain in vain bids my heart be quiet,
 When my breast seems the centre of lava-fires,
Oh, then is when most I miss you,
 And I swear by the stars and my soul and say
That I will have you, and hold you, and kiss you,
 Though the whole world stands in the way.

And like Communists, as mad, as disloyal,
 My fierce emotions roam out of their lair;
They hate King Reason for being royal –
 They would fire his castle, and burn him there.
O Love! They would clasp you, and crush you and kill you,
 In the insurrection of uncontrol.
Across the miles, does this wild war thrill you
 That is raging in my soul?


Scheme ABABCDCD EFEFGHGH IDIDJBJB GKGKJGJX
Poetic Form
Metre 1111110110 11110101111 111111111110 11101101101 1111101110 110110101 111111101110 10111101 10110111110 111101111 11101111010 0111111001 11011101110 1111101101 01001110110 1011101 01111111110 101011011010 11101111110 111101011010 11111111 01110101101 11111011011 10111001 01100111010 1101011111 1111011010 11101100111 111111011011 0001011 0101111111 1110011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,374
Words 281
Sentences 9
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 260
Words per stanza (avg) 70
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 12, 2023

1:24 min read
132

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet. more…

All Ella Wheeler Wilcox poems | Ella Wheeler Wilcox Books

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