Analysis of Rich And Poor
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
By the castle-gate my lady stands,
Viewing broad acres and spreading lands.
Hill and valley and mead and plain
Are all her own, with their wealth of grain.
In the richest of rich robes she is dressed,
A jewel blazes upon her breast;
And her brow is decked with a diadem
That glitters with many a precious gem.
But what to the Lady Wendoline
Rich satin garments or jewels fine?
Or ripening harvests, or spreading lands-
See! she is wringing her milk-white hands!
And her finger is stained with crimson dew
Where the ring with the diamond star cut through.
And a look of pain and wild despair
Rests on the face, so young and fair.
To-morrow will be her bridal day,
And she will barter herself away
For added wealth and a titled name;
'Tis the curse of her station, and whose the blame!
She loathes the man who will call her wife,
And moans o'er her hapless, loveless life.
The joys of wooing she cannot know;
My lord, her father, has willed it so.
She's a piece of merchandise, bought and sold
For name, position, and bags of gold.
But people must wed in their own degree,
Though hearts may break in their agony.
Under the hill, in the castle's shade,
At a cottage door sits an humble maid;
In her cheek the blushes come and go
As she stitches away on a robe like snow;
And she sings aloud in her happiness-
In a joy she cannot hide or repress.
Close at her side her lover stands,
Watching the nimble, sun-browned hands
As they draw the needle to and fro
Through the robe as white as drift of snow.
Both hearts are singing a wordless lay,
For the morrow will be their bridal day.
They have only their hands, their love, their health,
In place of title, position, and wealth.
But which is the rich, and which the poor,
The maid at the gate, or the maid in the door?
Scheme | AA BB CC DD BX AA EE FF GG HH II JJ KK LL MM JJ XX AA JJ GG NN XX |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101011101 101100101 10100101 110111111 0010111111 010100101 001111010 1101100101 1110101 110101101 1100101101 111100111 0010111101 1011010111 001110101 11011101 110110101 011100101 110100101 10110100101 110111101 0110010101 011101101 110101111 101110101 110100111 1101101101 111101100 100100101 1010111101 001010101 11100110111 0110100100 0011101101 11010101 10010111 111010101 101111111 111100101 1010111101 1110111111 0111001001 111010101 01101101001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,727 |
Words | 335 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 22 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 62 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 15 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:41 min read
- 115 Views
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"Rich And Poor" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10776/rich-and-poor>.
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