Analysis of Lydia

Lizette Woodworth Reese 1856 (Waverly) – 1935



Break forth, break forth, O Sudbury town,
  And bid your yards be gay
Up all your gusty streets and down,
  For Lydia comes to-day!

I hear it on the wharves below;
  And if I buy or sell,
The good folk as they churchward go
  Have only this to tell.

My mother, just for love of her,
  Unlocks her carvëd drawers;
And springs of withered lavender
  Drop down upon the floors.

For Lydia’s bed must have the sheet
  Spun out of linen sheer,
And Lydia’s room be passing sweet
  With odors of last year.

The violet flags are out once more
  In lanes salt with the sea;
The thorn-bush at Saint Martin’s door
  Grows white for such as she.

So, Sudbury, bid your gardens blow,
  For Lydia comes to-day;
Of all the words that I do know,
  I have but this to say.


Scheme abaB cdcd efef ghgh ijij cBcb
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 11111101 011111 11110101 1100111 11110101 011111 0111111 110111 11011110 10111 01110100 110101 1111101 111101 0111101 110111 010011111 011101 01111101 111111 11011101 1100111 11011111 111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 745
Words 144
Sentences 7
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 93
Words per stanza (avg) 24
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 22, 2023

43 sec read
48

Lizette Woodworth Reese

Lizette Woodworth Reese was an American poet. more…

All Lizette Woodworth Reese poems | Lizette Woodworth Reese Books

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