Analysis of The Relic Taken, What Avails The Shrine?
Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 (Edinburgh) – 1894 (Vailima, Samoa)
THE relic taken, what avails the shrine?
The locket, pictureless? O heart of mine,
Art thou not worse than that,
Still warm, a vacant nest where love once sat?
Her image nestled closer at my heart
Than cherished memories, healed every smart
And warmed it more than wine
Or the full summer sun in noon-day shine.
This was the little weather gleam that lit
The cloudy promontories - the real charm was
That gilded hills and woods
And walked beside me thro' the solitudes.
The sun is set. My heart is widowed now
Of that companion-thought. Alone I plough
The seas of life, and trace
A separate furrow far from her and grace.
| Scheme | AABB CCAA XDXD EEFF |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | Quatrain |
| Metre | 010101101 01011111 111111 1101011111 0101010111 11010011001 011111 1011010111 1101010111 01010111 110101 01011101 0111111101 1101010111 011101 0101011001 |
| Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
| Characters | 617 |
| Words | 115 |
| Sentences | 9 |
| Stanzas | 4 |
| Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
| Lines Amount | 16 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
| Words per line (avg) | 7 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 123 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 34 sec read
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"The Relic Taken, What Avails The Shrine?" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/31707/the-relic-taken%2C-what-avails-the-shrine%3F>.
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