Analysis of The Bride
Ralph Hodgson 1871 (Darlington) – 1962
The book was dull, its pictures
As leaden as its lore,
But one glad, happy picture
Made up for all and more:
'Twas that of you, sweet peasant,
Beside your grannie's door --
I never stopped so startled
Inside a book before.
Just so had I sat spell-bound,
Quite still with staring eyes,
If some great shiny hoopoe
Or moth of song-bird size
Had drifted to my window
And trailed its fineries --
Just so had I been startled,
Spelled with the same surprise.
It pictured you when springtime
In part had given place
But not surrendered wholly
To summer in your face;
When still your slender body
Was all a childish grace
Though woman's richest glories
Were building there apace.
'Twas blissful so to see you,
Yet not without a sigh
I dwelt upon the people
Who saw you not as I,
But in your living sweetness,
Beneath your native sky;
Ah, bliss to be the people
When you went tripping by!
I sat there, thinking, wondering,
Abut your life and home,
The happy days behind you,
The happy days to come,
Your grannie in her corner,
Upstairs the little room
Where you wake up each morning
To dream all day -- of Whom?
That ring upon your finger,
Who gave you that to wear?
What blushing smith or farm lad
Came stammering at your ear
A million-time-told story
No maid but burns to hear,
And went about his labours
Delighting in his dear!
I thought of you sweet lovers,
The things you say and do,
The pouts and tears and partings
And swearings to be true,
The kissings in the barley --
You brazens, both of you!
I nearly burst out crying
With thinking of you two.
It put me in a frenzy
Of pleasure nearly pain,
A host of blurry faces
'Gan shaping in my brain,
I shut my eyes to see them
Come forward clear and plain,
I saw them come full flower,
And blur and fade again.
One moment so I saw them,
One sovereign moment so,
A host of girlish faces
All happy and aglow
With Life and Love it dealt them
Before it laid them low
A hundred years, a thousand,
Ten thousand years ago.
One moment so I saw them
Come back with time full tide,
The host of girls, your grannies,
Who lived and loved and died
To give your mouth its beauty,
Your soul its gentle pride,
Who wrestled with the ages
To give the world a bride.
Scheme | abcbxbdb xefegade xhihihjh fklkxklk mxfxcnmn cxxoioax afafifmf ipqprpcx Rgqgrgxg Rsjsisqs |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (29%) |
Metre | 0111110 110111 1111010 111101 1111110 01111 1101110 010101 1111111 111101 111101 111111 1101110 0111 1111110 110101 110111 011101 1101010 110011 1111010 110101 1101010 010101 1101111 110101 1101010 111111 1011010 011101 1111010 111101 11110100 011101 0101011 010111 110010 010101 1111110 111111 1101110 111111 1101111 11111 0101110 111111 010111 010011 1111110 011101 010101 01111 010010 11111 1101110 110111 1110010 110101 0111010 110011 1111111 110101 1111110 010101 1101111 110101 0111010 110001 1101111 011111 0101010 110101 1101111 111111 0111110 110101 1111110 111101 1101010 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 2,197 |
Words | 420 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 80 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 170 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:06 min read
- 54 Views
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"The Bride" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29770/the-bride>.
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