Analysis of Refrain
Helen Hunt Jackson 1830 (Amherst, Massachusetts) – 1885 (San Francisco)
Of all the songs which poets sing
The ones which are most sweet
Are those which at close intervals
A low refrain repeat;
Some tender word, some syllable,
Over and over, ever and ever,
While the song lasts,
Altering never,
Music if sung, music if said,
Subtle like some golden thread
A shuttle casts,
In and out on a fabric red,
Till it glows all through
With the golden hue.
Oh! of all the songs sung,
No songs are so sweet
As the songs with refrains,
Which repeat and repeat.
Of all the lives lived,
No life is so sweet,
As the life where one thought,
In refrain doth repeat,
Over and over, ever and ever,
Till the life ends,
Altering never,
Joy which is felt, but is not said,
Subtler than any golden thread
Which the shuttle sends
In and out in a fabric red,
Till it glows all through
With a golden hue.
Oh! of all the lives lived,
Can be no life so sweet,
As the life where one thought
In refrain doth repeat,
"Now name for me a thought
To make life so sweet,
A thought of such joy
Its refrain to repeat."
Oh! foolish to ask me. Ever, ever
Who loveth believes,
But telleth never.
It might be a name, just a name not said,
But in every thought; like a golden thread
Which the shuttle weaves
In and out on a fabric red,
Till it glows all through
With a golden hue.
Oh! of all sweet lives,
Who can tell how sweet
Is the life which one name
In refrain doth repeat?
Scheme | xaxaxBcBddcDEexaxa faGABhBddhdEEfaGA gaxabibddiDEExaxA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011101 011111 11111100 010101 11011100 1001010010 1011 10010 10111011 1011101 0101 00110101 11111 10101 111011 11111 101101 101001 11011 11111 101111 001101 1001010010 1011 10010 11111111 100110101 10101 00100101 11111 10101 111011 111111 101111 001101 111101 11111 01111 101101 1101111010 1101 1110 1110110111 10100110101 10101 00110101 11111 10101 11111 11111 101111 001101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,372 |
Words | 271 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 18, 17, 17 |
Lines Amount | 52 |
Letters per line (avg) | 20 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 349 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 89 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:21 min read
- 116 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Refrain" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17078/refrain>.
Discuss this Helen Hunt Jackson poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In