Analysis of A Lover's Confession
Robert Fuller Murray 1863 – 1894
When people tell me they have loved
But once in youth,
I wonder, are they always moved
To speak the truth?
Not that they wilfully deceive:
They fondly cherish
A constancy which they would grieve
To think might perish.
They cherish it until they think
`Twas always theirs.
So, if the truth they sometimes blink,
`Tis unawares.
Yet unawares, I must profess,
They do deceive
Themselves, and those who questionless
Their tale believe.
For I have loved, I freely own,
A score of times,
And woven, out of love alone,
A hundred rhymes.
Boys will be fickle. Yet, when all
Is said and done,
I was not one whom you could call
A flirt--not one
Of those who into three or four
Their hearts divide.
My queens came singly to the door,
Not side by side.
Each, while she reigned, possessed alone
My spirit loyal,
Then left an undisputed throne
To one more royal,
To one more fair in form and face
Sweeter and stronger,
Who filled the throne with truer grace,
And filled it longer.
So, love by love, they came and passed,
These loves of mine,
And each one brighter than the last
Their lights did shine.
Until--but am I not too free,
Most courteous stranger,
With secrets which belong to me?
There is a danger.
Until, I say, the perfect love,
The last, the best,
Like flame descending from above,
Kindled my breast,
Kindled my breast like ardent flame,
With quenchless glow.
I knew not love until it came,
But now I know.
You smile. The twenty loves before
Were each in turn,
You say, the final flame that o'er
My soul should burn.
Smile on, my friend. I will not say
You have no reason;
But if the love I feel to-day
Depart, `tis treason!
If this depart, not once again
Will I on paper
Declare the loves that waste and wane,
Like some poor taper.
No, no! This flame, I cannot doubt,
Despite your laughter,
Will burn till Death shall put it out,
And may be after.
Scheme | XAXA BCBC DEDE XBEB FGFG HIHI JKJK FLFL MNMN OPOP QNQN RSRS TUTU JVNV WIWI XNXN XNXN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 11011111 1101 1101111 1101 11110001 11010 01001111 11110 11010111 111 11011011 101 1011101 1101 010111 1101 11111101 0111 01011101 0101 11110111 1101 11111111 0111 11101111 1101 11110101 1111 11110101 11010 1110101 11110 11110101 10010 11011101 01110 11111101 1111 01110101 1111 01111111 110010 11010111 11010 01110011 0101 11010101 1011 10111101 111 11110111 1111 11010101 0101 110101110 1111 11111111 11110 11011111 01110 11011101 11110 01011101 11110 11111101 01110 11111111 01110 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,786 |
Words | 344 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 17 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 68 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 84 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 20 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:43 min read
- 116 Views
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"A Lover's Confession" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/30965/a-lover%27s-confession>.
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