Analysis of Love, Dearest Lady, Such As I Would Speak

Thomas Hood 1799 (London) – 1845 (London)



Love, dearest Lady, such as I would speak,
Lives not within the humor of the eye;—
Not being but an outward phantasy,
That skims the surface of a tinted cheek,—
Else it would wane with beauty, and grow weak,
As if the rose made summer,—and so lie
Amongst the perishable things that die,
Unlike the love which I would give and seek:
Whose health is of no hue—to feel decay
With cheeks' decay, that have a rosy prime.
Love is its own great loveliness alway,
And takes new lustre from the touch of time;
Its bough owns no December and no May,
But bears its blossom into Winter's clime.


Scheme ABCAABBADEFEDE
Poetic Form
Metre 1101011111 1101010101 11011101 1101010101 1111110011 1101110011 0101000111 0101111101 1111111101 1101110101 1111111 0111010111 1111010011 1111001101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 598
Words 114
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 451
Words per stanza (avg) 109
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
72

Thomas Hood

Thomas Hood was a British humorist and poet. His son, Tom Hood, became a well known playwright and editor. more…

All Thomas Hood poems | Thomas Hood Books

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