Analysis of How was it

Helen Hunt Jackson 1830 (Amherst, Massachusetts) – 1885 (San Francisco)



Why ask, dear one? I think I cannot tell,
More than I know how clouds so sudden lift
From mountains, or how snowflakes float and drift,
Or springs leave hills. One secret and one spell
All true things have. No sunlight ever fell
With sound to bid flowers open. Still and swift
Come sweetest things on earth.
So comes true gift
Of Love, and so we know that it is well.
Sure tokens also, like the cloud, the snow,
And silent flowing of the mountain-springs,
The new gift of true loving always brings.
In clearer light, in purer paths, we go:
New currents of deep joy in common things
We find. These are the tokens, dear, we know!


Scheme ABBAABCBADEEDED
Poetic Form Tetractys  (33%)
Metre 1111111101 1111111101 110111101 1111110011 111111101 11111010101 110111 1111 1101111111 1101010101 0101010101 011111011 0101010111 1101110101 1111010111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 621
Words 120
Sentences 10
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 15
Lines Amount 15
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 486
Words per stanza (avg) 118
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
76

Helen Hunt Jackson

Helen Maria Hunt Jackson, born Helen Fiske, was an American poet and writer who became an activist on behalf of improved treatment of Native Americans by the United States government. more…

All Helen Hunt Jackson poems | Helen Hunt Jackson Books

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