Analysis of The Sunken Garden

Walter de la Mare 1873 (Charlton, London) – 1956 (Twickenham)



Speak not — whisper not;
Here bloweth thyme and bergamot;
Softly on the evening hour,
Secret herbs their spices shower,
Dark-spiked rosemary and myrrh,
Lean-stalked, purple lavender;
Hides within her bosom, too,
All her sorrows, bitter rue.

Breathe not — trespass not;
Of this green and darkling spot,
Latticed from the moon's beams,
Perchance a distant dreamer dreams;
Perchance upon its darkening air,
The unseen ghosts of children fare,
Faintly swinging, sway and sweep,
Like lovely sea-flowers in its deep;
While, unmoved, to watch and ward,
'Mid its gloomed and daisied sward,
Stands with bowed and dewy head
That one little leaden Lad.


Scheme AABBBBCC AADDEEFFGGXX
Poetic Form Etheree  (25%)
Metre 11101 11101 10101010 10111010 111001 1110100 1010101 1010101 1111 111011 11011 01010101 010111001 00111101 1010101 110110011 1011101 111011 1110101 1110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 634
Words 105
Sentences 3
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 12
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 254
Words per stanza (avg) 52
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

31 sec read
77

Walter de la Mare

Walter John de la Mare was an English poet short story writer and novelist best remembered for his works for children and The Listeners He was born in Kent and was educated at St Pauls Cathedral School His first book Songs of Childhood was published under the name Walter Ramal His 1921 novel Memoirs of a Midget won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction more…

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