Analysis of Two Nights
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
(Suggested by the lives of Napoleon and Josephine.)
ONE night was full of rapture and delight-
Of reunited arms and swooning kisses,
And all the unnamed and unnumbered blisses
Which fond souls find in love of love at night.
Heart beat with heart, and each clung into each
With twining arms that did but loose their hold
To cling still closer; and fond glances told
These truths for which there is no uttered speech.
There was sweet laughter and endearing words,
Made broken by the kiss that could not wait,
And cooing sounds as of dear little birds
That in spring-time love and woo and mate.
And languid sighs that breathed of love's content
And all too soon this night of rapture went.
One night was full of anguish and of pain,
Of nerveless arms and mockery of kisses;
And those caresses where one sick heart misses
The quick response the other cannot feign.
Hands idly clasped and unclasped, and lost hold,
And the averted eyes that turned away,
And in whose depths no love nor longing lay,
The saddest of all truths too plainly told.
There was salt sorrow and the gall of tears,
Some useless words that ended in a moan,
And a dull dread of long unending years
When one must walk forever more alone.
Deep shuddering sighs told more than lips could say;
And the long night of sorrow wore away.
Scheme | X ABBA CDDC EFEF GG HBBH DIID XJXJII |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01010110100010 1111110001 1010101010 01001011 1111011111 1111011011 1101111111 1111001101 1111111101 1111000101 1101011111 0101111101 101110101 0101111110 0111111101 1111110011 1110100110 01010111110 0101010101 110101011 0001011101 0011111101 0101111101 1111000111 1101110001 0011110101 1111010101 11001111111 0011110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,293 |
Words | 240 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4, 4, 6 |
Lines Amount | 29 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 129 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 49 Views
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