Analysis of Where?

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



My snowy eupatorium has dropped
Its silver threads of petals in the night;
No signal told its blossoming had stopped;
Its seed-films flutter silent, ghostly white:
No answer stirs the shining air,
As I ask, "Where?"

Beneath the glossy leaves of winter-green
Dead lilly-bells lie low, and in their place
A rounded disk of pearly pink is seen,
Which tells not of the lily's fragrant grace:
No answer stirs the shining air,
As I ask, "Where?"

This morning's sunrise does not show to me
Seed-film or fruit of my sweet yesterday;
Like falling flowers, to realms I cannot see
Its moments floated silently away:
No answer stirs the shining air,
As I ask, "Where?"


Scheme ababCC dedeCC fgfgCC
Poetic Form
Metre 110111 1101110001 1101110011 1111010101 11010101 1111 0101011101 1101110011 0101110111 111101101 11010101 1111 110111111 111111110 11010111101 1101010001 11010101 1111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 664
Words 119
Sentences 4
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 171
Words per stanza (avg) 38
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
88

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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