Analysis of The Rival
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
I so loved once, when Death came by I hid
Away my face,
And all my sweetheart's tresses she undid
To make my hiding-place.
The dread shade passed me thus unheeding; and
I turned me then
To calm my love -- kiss down her shielding hand
And comfort her again.
And lo! she answered not: and she did sit
All fixedly,
With her fair face and the sweet smile of it,
In love with Death, not me.
| Scheme | ABAB XCXC DXDX |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | Quatrain (67%) |
| Metre | 1111111111 0111 011110101 111101 01111110 1111 1111110101 010001 0111010111 11 1011001111 011111 |
| Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
| Characters | 411 |
| Words | 79 |
| Sentences | 5 |
| Stanzas | 3 |
| Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4 |
| Lines Amount | 12 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
| Words per line (avg) | 6 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 98 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 24 sec read
- 382 Views
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"The Rival" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/21110/the-rival>.
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