Analysis of To a Cabbage Rose
Henry Lea Twisleton 1847 (Winskill, Yorkshire)
Thy clustering leaves are steeped in splendour;
No evening red, no morning dun,
Can show a hue as rich and tender
As thine -- bright lover of the sun!
What wondrous hints of hidden glory,
Of strains no human lips can sing;
What symbols rare of life's strange story,
Dost thou from earth's dark bosom bring!
What elements have made thy sweetness,
Thy glowing hue, thy emerald stem?
What hand has fashioned to completeness
From tiny germ, thy diadem?
Thou art the fair earth's fond expression
Of tenderness for heaven above --
The virgin blush that yields confession --
Thou bright "ambassador of love"!
Fair are thy leaves when summer glowing
Lies in the lap of swooning spring;
But where art thou when autumn, blowing,
Bids youth and tenderness take wing?
Sweet messenger! thou waftest beauty
Wherever human lives are sown,
Around the peasant's humble duty
Or weary grandeurs of a throne.
Transfused through hearts in future ages,
Thy glowing power anew may shine
Effulgent in the poets' pages
Or music's harmony divine.
But not to thee from future glory
Can shine one added charm or day;
Sweet is thy life's unwritten story
Of radiant bloom and swift decay.
Give, then, to vagrant winds thy sweetness,
Shine, tearful, in the summer shower;
And, heedless of thy season's fleetness,
Enrich with joy the passing hour.
Scheme | ABAB ACAC DEDE BFBF CCCC GHGH IJIJ AKAK DADA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 110011101 11011101 110111010 11110101 110111010 11110111 110111110 11111101 110011110 11011101 111101010 1101110 110111010 110011001 010111010 11010011 111111010 10011101 111111010 11010011 11001110 01010111 01011010 1101101 011101010 110100111 1001010 11010001 111111010 11110111 111101010 110010101 111101110 110001010 0111101 011101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,377 |
Words | 226 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 116 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:09 min read
- 81 Views
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"To a Cabbage Rose" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18199/to-a-cabbage-rose>.
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