Analysis of From 'Pauline'
O God, where does this tend—these struggling aims?
What would I have? What is this ‘sleep’, which seems
To bound all? can there be a ‘waking’ point
Of crowning life? The soul would never rule—
It would be first in all things—it would have
Its utmost pleasure filled,—but that complete
Commanding for commanding sickens it.
The last point I can trace is, rest beneath
Some better essence than itself—in weakness;
This is ‘myself’—not what I think should be
And what is that I hunger for but God?
My God, my God! let me for once look on thee
As tho’ nought else existed: we alone.
And as creation crumbles, my soul’s spark
Expands till I can say, ‘Even from myself
I need thee, and I feel thee, and I love thee;
I do not plead my rapture in thy works
For love of thee—or that I feel as one
Who cannot die—but there is that in me
Which turns to thee, which loves, or which should love.’
Why have I girt myself with this hell-dress?
Why have I laboured to put out my life?
Is it not in my nature to adore,
And e’en for all my reason do I not
Feel him, and thank him, and pray to him—now?
Can I forgo the trust that he loves me?
Do I not feel a love which only ONE…
O thou pale form, so dimly seen, deep-eyed,
I have denied thee calmly—do I not
Pant when I read of thy consummate deeds,
And burn to see thy calm pure truths out-flash
The brightest gleams of earth’s philosophy?
Do I not shake to hear aught question thee?
If I am erring save me, madden me,
Take from me powers and pleasures—let me die.
Ages, so I see thee: I am knit round
As with a charm, by sin and lust and pride,
Yet tho’ my wandering dreams have seen all shapes
Of strange delight, oft have I stood by thee—
Have I been keeping lonely watch with thee
In the damp night by weeping Olivet,
Or leaning on thy bosom, proudly less—
Or dying with thee on the lonely cross—
Or witnessing thy bursting from the tomb!
Scheme | XXAXXXXXXBXBXXXBXCBX DXXEXBCFEXXBBBXXFXBBADXX |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111111001 1111111111 1111110101 1101011101 1111011111 111011101 010101011 0111111101 11010101010 111111111 0111110111 11111111111 1111010101 0101010111 0111111011 11101110111 1111110011 1111111111 1101111101 1111111111 111111111 111111111 1110110101 0111110111 1101101111 1101011111 1111011101 1111110111 1101110111 1111111001 0111111111 0101110100 1111111101 1111011101 11110010111 1011111111 1101110101 11110011111 1101111111 1111010111 00111101 1101110101 1101110101 1100110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,040 |
Words | 369 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 20, 24 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 717 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 183 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 26, 2023
- 1:50 min read
- 145 Views
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"From 'Pauline'" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/30351/from-%27pauline%27>.
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