Analysis of Sonnet. Why Did I Laugh Tonight?

John Keats 1795 (Moorgate) – 1821 (Rome)



Why did I laugh to-night? No voice will tell
No God, no Demon of severe response,
Deigns to reply from Heaven or from Hell
Then to my human heart I turn at once:
Heart! Thou and I are here sad and alone;
I say, why did I laugh? O mortal pain!
O Darkness! Darkness! ever must I moan,
To question Heaven and Hell and Heart in vain.
Why did I laugh? I know this Being's lease,
My fancy to its utmost blisses spreads;
Yet would I on this very midnight cease,
And all the world's gaudy ensigns see in shreds;
Verse, Fame, and Beauty are intense indeed,
But Death intenser -- Death is Life's high meed.


Scheme ABACDEDEFGFGHH
Poetic Form
Metre 1111111111 1111010101 1101110111 1111011111 1101111001 1111111101 1101010111 11010010101 1111111101 11011111 111111011 0101101101 1101010101 11111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 591
Words 118
Sentences 10
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 453
Words per stanza (avg) 116
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 28, 2023

36 sec read
219

John Keats

John Keats was an English Romantic poet. more…

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