Analysis of The Cottage
Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)
Here in turn succeed and rule
Carter, smith, and village fool,
Then again the place is known
As tavern, shop, and Sunday-school;
Now somehow it’s come to me
To light the fire and hold the key,
Here in Heaven to reign alone.
All the walls are white with lime,
Big blue periwinkles climb
And kiss the crumbling window-sill;
Snug inside I sit and rhyme,
Planning, poem, book, or fable,
At my darling beech-wood table
Fresh with bluebells from the hill.
Through the window I can see
Rooks above the cherry-tree,
Sparrows in the violet bed,
Bramble-bush and bumble-bee,
And old red bracken smoulders still
Among boulders on the hill,
Far too bright to seem quite dead.
But old Death, who can’t forget,
Waits his time and watches yet,
Waits and watches by the door.
Look, he’s got a great new net,
And when my fighting starts afresh
Stouter cord and smaller mesh
Won’t be cheated as before.
Nor can kindliness of Spring,
Flowers that smile nor birds that sing,
Bumble-bee nor butterfly,
Nor grassy hill nor anything
Of magic keep me safe to rhyme
In this Heaven beyond my time.
No! for Death is waiting by.
Scheme | AABACCB DDEDFFE CCGCEEG HHIHJJI KKLKDDL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010101 1010101 1010111 1101011 111111 110100101 10101101 1011111 1111 010100101 1011101 10101110 11101110 111101 1010111 1010101 10001001 1010101 0111011 0110101 1111111 1111101 1110101 1010101 1110111 01110101 110101 1110101 11111 10111111 101110 1101110 11011111 01100111 1111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,114 |
Words | 198 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 7, 7, 7 |
Lines Amount | 35 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 172 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 28, 2023
- 59 sec read
- 115 Views
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