Analysis of O, how our love is murderous

Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev 1803 ( Ovstug near Bryansk, Oryol Governorate) – 1873 (Saint Petersburg)



O, how our love is murderous,
The dearer something is to us
The surer are we to destroy it
In passion's savage blindness!
Was it so long ago you said,
Proud of your victory: she's mine . . .
Barely a year gone - stop and think,
What has remained of her?
Where are the roses in her cheeks,
Her smiling lips and shining eyes?
Rivers of scalding tears
Have scorched and burned them all.
Do you remember how you met,
Your very first, your fateful t?te-?-t?te;
Her gaze enchanting and her words,
Her laughter --lively, child-like?
What have you now? Where is it all?
Was it a lasting dream?
Alas, like northern summers,
It was a fleeting guest!
For her your love was naught but
Fate's awful judgment.
It weighed upon her life,
With undeserved shame.
A life of sacrifice, a life of trials!
Deep in her soul
She cherished memories . . .
Yet even they've betrayed her.
And earthly life has turned against her,
Its charms have disappeared. . .
The surging crowd's ground in the dirt
All that had flourished in her heart.
And what like ashes has she gathered
After her long torment?
Pain, the cruel pain of bitterness,
Pain without cease and without tears!
O, how our love is murderous,
The dearer something is to us
The surer are we to destroy it
In passion's savage blindness!


Scheme AABAcdefghijkblmjnopqrstuvwffxyz1 2 AIAAba
Poetic Form Tetractys  (23%)
Etheree  (23%)
Metre 111011100 01010111 010111011 011010 11110111 11110011 10011101 110110 11010001 01010101 101101 110111 11010111 110111011 01010001 0101011 11111111 110101 0111010 110101 1011111 11010 110101 1011 0111001110 1001 110100 1101010 010111010 11101 01011001 11110001 011101110 10011 101011100 10110011 111011100 01010111 010111011 011010
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,239
Words 230
Sentences 30
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 40
Lines Amount 40
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 975
Words per stanza (avg) 233
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 26, 2023

1:10 min read
61

Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev

Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev (Russian: Фёдор Иванович Тютчев, Pre-Reform orthography: Ѳедоръ Ивановичъ Тютчевъ) was a Russian poet and diplomat.  more…

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