Analysis of Her Beautiful Hands
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
Your hands--they are strangely fair!
O Fair--for the jewels that sparkle there,--
Fair--for the witchery of the spell
That ivory keys alone can tell;
But when their delicate touches rest
Here in my own do I love them best,
As I clasp with eager, acquisitive spans
My glorious treasure of beautiful hands!
Marvelous--wonderful--beautiful hands!
They can coax roses to bloom in the strands
Of your brown tresses; and ribbons will twine,
Under mysterious touches of thine,
Into such knots as entangle the soul
And fetter the heart under such a control
As only the strength of my love understands--
My passionate love for your beautiful hands.
As I remember the first fair touch
Of those beautiful hands that I love so much,
I seem to thrill as I then was thrilled,
Kissing the glove that I found unfilled--
When I met your gaze, and the queenly bow,
As you said to me, laughingly, 'Keep it now!' . . .
And dazed and alone in a dream I stand,
Kissing this ghost of your beautiful hand.
When first I loved, in the long ago,
And held your hand as I told you so--
Pressed and caressed it and gave it a kiss
And said 'I could die for a hand like this!'
Little I dreamed love's fullness yet
Had to ripen when eyes were wet
And prayers were vain in their wild demands
For one warm touch of your beautiful hands.
. . . . . . . . .
Beautiful Hands!--O Beautiful Hands!
Could you reach out of the alien lands
Where you are lingering, and give me, to-night,
Only a touch--were it ever so light--
My heart were soothed, and my weary brain
Would lull itself into rest again;
For there is no solace the world commands
Like the caress of your beautiful hands.
Scheme | AABBCCXD DDEEFFDD GGHHIIJJ KKLLMMDD DDNNXXDD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111101 1110101101 1101101 110010111 111100101 101111111 11111001001 11001011001 1001001001 1111011001 1111001011 1001001011 0111101001 01001101001 1100111101 11001111001 110100111 11100111111 111111111 100111101 111110011 11111100111 0100100111 1011111001 111100101 011111111 1001101101 0111110111 10111101 11101101 010101101 1111111001 1 100111001 1111101001 11110001111 1001011011 110101101 110101101 1111100101 1001111001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,609 |
Words | 299 |
Sentences | 24 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 9 |
Lines Amount | 41 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 253 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 61 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:29 min read
- 136 Views
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"Her Beautiful Hands" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20899/her-beautiful-hands>.
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