Analysis of For a Picture of St. Dorothea
Gerard Manley Hopkins 1844 (Stratford, London) – 1889 (Dublin)
I bear a basket lined with grass;
I am so light, I am so fair,
That men must wonder as I pass
And at the basket that I bear,
Where in a newly-drawn green litter
Sweet flowers I carry,—sweets for bitter.
Lilies I shew you, lilies none,
None in Caesar’s gardens blow,—
And a quince in hand,—not one
Is set upon your boughs below;
Not set, because their buds not spring;
Spring not, ’cause world is wintering.
But these were found in the East and South
Where Winter is the clime forgot.—
The dewdrop on the larkspur’s mouth
O should it then be quench`d not?
In starry water-meads they drew
These drops: which be they? stars or dew?
Had she a quince in hand? Yet gaze:
Rather it is the sizing moon.
Lo, linkèd heavens with milky ways!
That was her larkspur row.—So soon?
Sphered so fast, sweet soul?—We see
Nor fruit, nor flowers, nor Dorothy.
Scheme | ABABCC DEDEFF GHGHII JKJKLL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010111 11111111 11110111 01010111 100101110 1101101110 10111101 1010101 0010111 11011101 11011111 111111 110100101 11010101 011011 11111111 01010111 11111111 11010111 10110101 111101101 1101111 1111111 111101100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 867 |
Words | 165 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 161 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 01, 2023
- 49 sec read
- 146 Views
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"For a Picture of St. Dorothea" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15856/for-a-picture-of-st.-dorothea>.
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