Analysis of Una

Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803 (Boston) – 1882 (Concord)



Roving, roving, as it seems,
Una lights my clouded dreams;
Still for journeys she is dressed;
We wander far by east and west.

In the homestead, homely thought;
At my work I ramble not;
If from home chance draw me wide,
Half-seen Una sits beside.

In my house and garden-plot,
Though beloved, I miss her not;
But one I seek in foreign places,
One face explore in foreign faces.

At home a deeper thought may light
The inward sky with chrysolite,
And I greet from far the ray,
Aurora of a dearer day.

But if upon the seas I sail,
Or trundle on the glowing rail,
I am but a thought of hers,
Loveliest of travellers.

So the gentle poet's name
To foreign parts is blown by fame;
Seek him in his native town,
He is hidden and unknown.


Scheme AABB XCDD CCEE XBFF GGHH IIXX
Poetic Form Quatrain  (67%)
Metre 1010111 1011101 1110111 11011101 001101 1111101 1111111 1110101 0110101 1011101 111101010 110101010 11010111 010111 0111101 01010101 11010111 11010101 1110110 11100 1010101 11011111 1101101 1110001
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 711
Words 141
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) 23
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

42 sec read
72

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. more…

All Ralph Waldo Emerson poems | Ralph Waldo Emerson Books

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