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 Views
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"How was it" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17069/how-was-it>.
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