Analysis of An Answer
Ada Cambridge 1844 (St Germans, Norfolk) – 1926 (Melbourne)
Thy love I am. Thy wife I cannot be,
To wear the yoke of servitude — to take
Strange, unknown fetters that I cannot break
On soul and flesh that should be mine, and free.
Better the woman's old disgrace for me
Than this old sin — this deep and dire mistake;
Better for truth and honour and thy sake —
For the pure faith I give and take from thee.
I know thy love, and love thee all I can —
I fain would love thee only till I die;
But I may some day love a better man,
And thou may'st find a fitter mate than I;
Some want, some chill, may steal 'twixt heart and heart.
And then we must be free to kiss and part.
Scheme | ABBAABBA CDCDEE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Petrarchan sonnet |
Metre | 1111111101 110111011 1011011101 1101111101 1001010111 1111110101 101101011 1011110111 1111011111 1111110111 1111110101 01111010111 1111111101 0111111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 613 |
Words | 131 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 6 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 230 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 65 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 797 Views
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"An Answer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/38/an-answer>.
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