Analysis of Say Something To Me
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
Say something to me! I've waited so long--
Waited and wondered in vain;
Only a sentence would fall like a song
Over this listening pain--
Over a silence that glowers and frowns,--
Even my pencil to-night
Slips in the dews of my sorrow and wounds
Each tender word that I write.
Say something to me--if only to tell
Me you remember the past;
Let the sweet words, like the notes of a bell,
Ring out my vigil at last.
O it were better, far better than this
Doubt and distrust in the breast,--
For in the wine of a fanciful kiss
I could taste Heaven, and--rest.
Say something to me! I kneel and I plead,
In my wild need, for a word;
If my poor heart from this silence were freed,
I could soar up like a bird
In the glad morning, and twitter and sing,
Carol and warble and cry
Blithe as the lark as he cruises awing
Over the deeps of the sky.
Scheme | ABABXCXC DEDEFGFG HIHIXJAJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101111011 1001001 1001011101 1011001 100101101 1011011 1001111001 1101111 1101111011 1101001 1011101101 1111011 1101011011 1001001 1001101001 1111001 1101111011 0111101 1111111001 1111101 0011001001 1001001 110111101 1001101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 821 |
Words | 169 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 213 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 55 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 97 Views
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"Say Something To Me" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/21017/say-something-to-me>.
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