Analysis of Modern Love IX: He Felt the Wild Beast
George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)
He felt the wild beast in him betweenwhiles
So masterfully rude, that he would grieve
To see the helpless delicate thing receive
His guardianship through certain dark defiles.
Had he not teeth to rend, and hunger too?
But still he spared her. Once: 'Have you no fear ?'
He said: 'twas dusk; she in his grasp; none near.
She laughed: 'No, surely; am I not with you?'
And uttering that soft starry 'you,' she leaned
Her gentle body near him, looking up;
And from her eyes, as from a poison-cup,
He drank until the flittering eyelids screened.
Devilish malignant witch and oh, young beam
Of heaven's circle-glory! Here thy shape
To squeeze like an intoxicating grape
I might, and yet thou goest safe, supreme.
Scheme | ABBACDDCEFFEGHHG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011011 1100011111 11010100101 1100011011 1111110101 1111011111 1111101111 1111011111 01001110111 0101011101 0101110101 11010111 1001010111 1101010111 111101001 110111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 714 |
Words | 128 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 547 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 124 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 06, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 87 Views
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"Modern Love IX: He Felt the Wild Beast" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15507/modern-love-ix%3A-he-felt-the-wild-beast>.
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