Analysis of The Celestial Surgeon

Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 (Edinburgh) – 1894 (Vailima, Samoa)



IF I have faltered more or less
In my great task of happiness;
If I have moved among my race
And shown no glorious morning face;
If beams from happy human eyes
Have moved me not; if morning skies,
Books, and my food, and summer rain
Knocked on my sullen heart in vain:—
Lord, thy most pointed pleasure take
And stab my spirit broad awake;
Or, Lord, if too obdurate I,
Choose thou, before that spirit die,
A piercing pain, a killing sin,
And to my dead heart run them in.


Scheme ABCCDDEEFFGGHH
Poetic Form
Metre 11110111 01111100 11110111 011100101 11110101 11111101 10110101 11110101 11110101 01110101 11111001 11011101 01010101 01111110
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 480
Words 94
Sentences 2
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 362
Words per stanza (avg) 91
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 25, 2023

28 sec read
379

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. more…

All Robert Louis Stevenson poems | Robert Louis Stevenson Books

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