Analysis of The Old House
Amy Levy 1861 (London) – 1889 (London)
In through the porch and up the silent stair;
Little is changed, I know so well the ways;--
Here, the dead came to meet me; it was there
The dream was dreamed in unforgotten days.
But who is this that hurries on before,
A flitting shade the brooding shades among?--
She turned,--I saw her face,--O God, it wore
The face I used to wear when I was young!
I thought my spirit and my heart were tamed
To deadness; dead the pangs that agonise.
The old grief springs to choke me,--I am shamed
Before that little ghost with eager eyes.
O turn away, let her not see, not know!
How should she bear it, how should understand?
O hasten down the stairway, haste and go,
And leave her dreaming in the silent land.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EBEX FGFG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 0101010101 1011111101 1011111111 0111011 1111110101 0101010101 1111011111 0111111111 1111001101 1110111 0111111111 0111011101 1101101111 111111101 110101101 0101000101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 693 |
Words | 140 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 134 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 23, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 110 Views
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"The Old House" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/2155/the-old-house>.
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