Analysis of Possession
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
That which we had we still possess,
Though leaves may drop and stars may fall;
No circumstance can make it less
Or take it from us, all in all.
That which is lost we did not own;
We only held it for a day--
A leaf by careless breezes blown:
No fate could take our own away.
I hold it as a changeless law
From which no soul can ever sway or swerve,
We have that in us which will draw
Whate'er we need or most deserve.
Even as the magnet to the steel
Our souls are to the best desires;
The Fates have hearts and they can feel--
They know what each true heart requires.
We think we lose when most we gain;
We call joys ended ere begun;
When stars fade out do skies complain,
Or glory in the rising sun?
No fate could rob us of our own--
No circumstance can make it less;
What time removes was but a loan,
For what was ours we still possess.
Scheme | abAb cdcd efef ghgh ijij cAca |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 11111101 11110111 1101111 11111101 11111111 11011101 01110101 111110101 1111011 1111110111 11101111 10111101 101010101 1011101010 01110111 111111010 11111111 11110101 11111101 11000101 111111101 1101111 11011101 111101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 840 |
Words | 173 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 107 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 52 sec read
- 113 Views
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"Possession" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10761/possession>.
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