Analysis of Modern Love XV: I Think She Sleeps
George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)
I think she sleeps: it must be sleep, when low
Hangs that abandoned arm toward the floor;
The face turned with it. Now make fast the door.
Sleep on: it is your husband, not your foe.
The Poet's black stage-lion of wronged love,
Frights not our modern dames:--well if he did!
Now will I pour new light upon that lid,
Full-sloping like the breasts beneath. 'Sweet dove,
Your sleep is pure. Nay, pardon: I disturb.
I do not? good!' Her waking infant-stare
Grows woman to the burden my hands bear:
Her own handwriting to me when no curb
Was left on Passion's tongue. She trembles through;
A woman's tremble--the whole instrument:--
I show another letter lately sent.
The words are very like: the name is new.
Scheme | ABBACDDCEFFEGHIG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111111111 1101010101 0111111101 1111110111 0101110111 11101011111 1111110111 1101010111 1111110101 1111010101 1101010111 011011111 11111111 0101001100 1101010101 0111010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 712 |
Words | 131 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 538 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 126 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 72 Views
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"Modern Love XV: I Think She Sleeps" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15529/modern-love-xv%3A-i-think-she-sleeps>.
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