Analysis of My Heart
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper 1825 – 1911
List I to the hurried beatings
Of my heart;
How its quickened, loud repeatings
Make me start!
Often do I hear it throbbing
Fast and wild;
As I've heard it, after sobbing,
When a child.
Why so wild, so swift and heated,
Little heart?
Is there something in thee seated,
Baffling art?
Pain with all thy throbs is blended--
Pain so dread!
Oftentimes life seems suspended
By a thread!
Then thou'lt grow so still--like ocean
In its rest;--
Till I scarce can feel a motion
In my breast.
Think'st thy house is dark and dreary,
Veiled in night?
Art thou pining, sad and weary,
For the light?
Wouldst be free from the dominions
That control;
Spreading all thy golden pinions
Toward the goal?
Gladly, gladly, would I free thee
From Earth's thrall!
With what bliss and joy to see thee
Rise o'er all!
But 'tis not for me to aid thee
In thy flight;
For the Holy One who made thee,
Doeth right.
When his own good time arriveth,
Then will He,
From the load with which thou strivest,
Set thee free.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EBEB EFEF GHGH IJIJ AKAK ILIL IJIJ XIBI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 11101010 111 111011 111 10111110 101 11111010 101 11111010 101 11100110 1001 11111110 111 1011010 101 11111110 011 11111010 011 111111010 101 11101010 101 111101 101 1011101 0101 10101111 111 11101111 1101 11111111 011 10101111 11 111111 111 1011111 111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 950 |
Words | 185 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 19 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 75 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 18 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 57 sec read
- 83 Views
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"My Heart" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/13735/my-heart>.
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