Analysis of To Vittoria Colonna. (Sonnet VI.)

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)



When the prime mover of my many sighs
Heaven took through death from out her earthly place,
Nature, that never made so fair a face,
Remained ashamed, and tears were in all eyes.
O fate, unheeding my impassioned cries!
O hopes fallacious! O thou spirit of grace,
Where art thou now? Earth holds in its embrace
Thy lovely limbs, thy holy thoughts the skies.
Vainly did cruel death attempt to stay
The rumor of thy virtuous renown,
That Lethe's waters could not wash away!
A thousand leaves, since he hath stricken thee down,
Speak of thee, nor to thee could Heaven convey,
Except through death, a refuge and a crown.


Scheme ABBAABBACDCDCD
Poetic Form
Metre 1011011101 10111110101 1011011101 0101010011 11110101 11010111011 1111110101 1101110101 1011010111 0101110001 111011101 01011111011 11111111001 0111010001
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 609
Words 112
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 484
Words per stanza (avg) 110
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
76

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. more…

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