Analysis of Rondel
Algernon Charles Swinburne 1837 (London) – 1909 (London)
THESE many years since we began to be,
What have the gods done with us? what with me,
What with my love? they have shown me fates and fears,
Harsh springs, and fountains bitterer than the sea,
Grief a fixed star, and joy a vane that veers,
These many years.
With her, my love, with her have they done well?
But who shall answer for her? who shall tell
Sweet things or sad, such things as no man hears?
May no tears fall, if no tears ever fell,
From eyes more dear to me than starriest spheres
These many years!
But if tears ever touched, for any grief,
Those eyelids folded like a white-rose leaf,
Deep double shells wherethrough the eye-flower peers,
Let them weep once more only, sweet and brief,
Brief tears and bright, for one who gave her tears
These many years.
Scheme | aababB ccxcbB ddbdxB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101110111 1101111111 11111111101 110101101 1011010111 1101 1011101111 1111010111 1111111111 1111111101 111111111 1101 1111011101 111010111 1101101101 1111110101 1101111101 1101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 758 |
Words | 146 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 18 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 198 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 48 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 15, 2023
- 43 sec read
- 91 Views
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"Rondel" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1390/rondel>.
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