Analysis of Sonnet To My Friend - With An Identity Disc

Wilfred Owen 1893 (Oswestry) – 1918 (Sambre–Oise Canal)



If ever I had dreamed of my dead name
High in the heart of London, unsurpassed
By Time for ever, and the Fugitive, Fame,
There seeking a long sanctuary at last, -

Or if I onetime hoped to hide its shame,
- Shame of success, and sorrow of defeats, -
Under those holy cypresses, the same
That shade always the quiet place of Keats,

Now rather thank I God there is no risk
Of gravers scoring it with florid screed.
Let my inscription be this soldier's disc.
Wear it, sweet friend. Inscribe no date nor deed.
But may thy heart-beat kiss it, night and day,
Until the name grow blurred and fade away.


Scheme ABAB ACAC DEDEFF
Poetic Form
Metre 1101111111 100111001 11110001001 1100110011 1111111111 1101010101 10110101 111010111 1101111111 111011101 1101011101 1111011111 1111111101 0101110101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 589
Words 115
Sentences 6
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 6
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 153
Words per stanza (avg) 38
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 08, 2023

34 sec read
106

Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC was an English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the First World War. more…

All Wilfred Owen poems | Wilfred Owen Books

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