Analysis of A Sonnet (Two Voices Are There)

James Kenneth Stephen 1859 (London) – 1892



Two voices are there: one is of the deep;
It learns the storm-cloud's thunderous melody,
Now roars, now murmurs with the changing sea,
Now bird-like pipes, now closes soft in sleep:
And one is of an old half-witted sheep
Which bleats articulate monotony,
And indicates that two and one are three,
That grass is green, lakes damp, and mountains steep:
And, Wordsworth, both are thine: at certain times
Forth from the heart of thy melodious rhymes,
The form and pressure of high thoughts will burst:
At other times -- good Lord! I'd rather be
Quite unacquainted with the A.B.C.
Than write such hopeless rubbish as thy worst.


Scheme ABBAABBACCDBED
Poetic Form
Metre 1101111101 11011100100 1111010101 1111110101 0111111101 110100100 010110111 1111110101 0101111101 11011101001 0101011111 1101111101 11101 1111010111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 617
Words 111
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 487
Words per stanza (avg) 107
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
130

James Kenneth Stephen

James Kenneth Stephen was an English poet, and tutor to Prince Albert Victor, eldest son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. more…

All James Kenneth Stephen poems | James Kenneth Stephen Books

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