Analysis of To My Wife

James Clerk Maxwell 1831 (Edinburgh, Scotland) – 1879 (Cambridge, England)



Oft in the night, from this lone room
I long to fly o’er land and sea,
To pierce the dark, dividing gloom,
And join myself to thee.

And thou to me wouldst gladly fly,
I know thee well, my own true wife!
We feel, that when we live not nigh,
We lose the crown of life.

Yet soon I hope, at dead of night,
To meet where all is strange beside,
And mid the train’s resounding flight
To have thee by my side.

Then shall I feel that thou art near,
Joined hand to hand and soul to soul;
Short will that happy night appear,
As through the dark we roll.

Then shall the secret of the will,
That dares not enter into bliss;
That longs for love, yet lingers still,
Be solved in one long kiss.

I, drinking deep of thy rich love,
Thou feeling all the strength of mine,
Our souls will rise in faith above
The cares which make us pine.

Till I give thee, thou giving me,
As that which either loves the best,
To Him that loved us both, that He
May take us to His rest.

Wandering and weak are all our prayers,
And fleeting half the gifts we crave;
Love only, cleansed from sins and cares,
Shall live beyond the grave.

Strengthen our love, O Lord, that we
May in Thine own great love believe
And, opening all our soul to Thee,
May Thy free gift receive.

All powers of mind, all force of will,
May lie in dust when we are dead,
But love is ours, and shall be still,
When earth and seas are fled.


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ KLKL BMBM NONO BPBP IQIQ
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 10011111 11111101 11010101 01111 01111101 11111111 11111111 110111 11111111 11111101 01010101 111111 11111111 11110111 11110101 110111 11010101 11110011 11111101 110111 11011111 11010111 101110101 011111 11111101 11110101 11111111 111111 1000111101 01010111 11011101 110101 101011111 10111101 0100110111 111101 110111111 11011111 111100111 110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,345
Words 276
Sentences 12
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 40
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 105
Words per stanza (avg) 27
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 12, 2023

1:22 min read
133

James Clerk Maxwell

James Clerk Maxwell was a Scottish scientist in the field of mathematical physics.  more…

All James Clerk Maxwell poems | James Clerk Maxwell Books

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