Analysis of White Pansies

Archibald Lampman 1861 (Upper Canada) – 1899 (Ottawa, Canada)



Day and night pass over, rounding,
Star and cloud and sun,
Things of drift and shadow, empty
Of my dearest one.

Soft as slumber was my baby,
Beaming bright and sweet;
Daintier than bloom or jewel
Were his hands and feet.

He was mine, mine all, mine only,
Mine and his the debt;
Earth and Life and Time are changers;
I shall not forget.

Pansies for my dear one--heartsease--
Set them gently so;
For his stainless lips and forehead,
Pansies white as snow.

Would that in the flower-grown little
Grave they dug so deep,
I might rest beside him, dreamless,
Smile no more, nor weep.


Scheme XABA BCDC BEFE FGXG DHFH
Poetic Form Quatrain  (80%)
Tetractys  (30%)
Etheree  (25%)
Metre 10111010 10101 1110110 11101 11101110 10101 111110 01101 11111110 10101 10101110 11101 1011111 11101 11101010 10111 110010110 11111 1110111 11111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 565
Words 107
Sentences 6
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 89
Words per stanza (avg) 21
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
94

Archibald Lampman

Archibald Lampman FRSC was a Canadian poet. "He has been described as 'the Canadian Keats;' and he is perhaps the most outstanding exponent of the Canadian school of nature poets." The Canadian Encyclopedia says that he is "generally considered the finest of Canada's late 19th-century poets in English." Lampman is classed as one of Canada's Confederation Poets, a group which also includes Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, and Duncan Campbell Scott. more…

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