Analysis of Broken Love



MY Spectre around me night and day  
Like a wild beast guards my way;  
My Emanation far within  
Weeps incessantly for my sin.  

‘A fathomless and boundless deep,          
There we wander, there we weep;  
On the hungry craving wind  
My Spectre follows thee behind.  

‘He scents thy footsteps in the snow  
Wheresoever thou dost go,         
Thro’ the wintry hail and rain.  
When wilt thou return again?  

’Dost thou not in pride and scorn  
Fill with tempests all my morn,  
And with jealousies and fears         
Fill my pleasant nights with tears?  

‘Seven of my sweet loves thy knife  
Has bereavèd of their life.  
Their marble tombs I built with tears,  
And with cold and shuddering fears.         

‘Seven more loves weep night and day  
Round the tombs where my loves lay,  
And seven more loves attend each night  
Around my couch with torches bright.  

‘And seven more loves in my bed         
Crown with wine my mournful head,  
Pitying and forgiving all  
Thy transgressions great and small.  

‘When wilt thou return and view  
My loves, and them to life renew?         
When wilt thou return and live?  
When wilt thou pity as I forgive?’  

‘O’er my sins thou sit and moan:  
Hast thou no sins of thy own?  
O’er my sins thou sit and weep,         
And lull thy own sins fast asleep.  

‘What transgressions I commit  
Are for thy transgressions fit.  
They thy harlots, thou their slave;  
And my bed becomes their grave.         

‘Never, never, I return:  
Still for victory I burn.  
Living, thee alone I’ll have;  
And when dead I’ll be thy grave.  

‘Thro’ the Heaven and Earth and Hell         
Thou shalt never, quell:  
I will fly and thou pursue:  
Night and morn the flight renew.’  

‘Poor, pale, pitiable form  
That I follow in a storm;         
Iron tears and groans of lead  
Bind around my aching head.  

‘Till I turn from Female love  
And root up the Infernal Grove,  
I shall never worthy be         
To step into Eternity.  

‘And, to end thy cruel mocks,  
Annihilate thee on the rocks,  
And another form create  
To be subservient to my fate.         

‘Let us agree to give up love,  
And root up the Infernal Grove;  
Then shall we return and see  
The worlds of happy Eternity.  

‘And throughout all Eternity         
I forgive you, you forgive me.  
As our dear Redeemer said:  
“This the Wine, and this the Bread.”’


Scheme aabb ccdd eexx ffgh iihg aajj kkll mmxx nncc oopp qqxp rrmm sskk tUvv wwxx tUvv vvkk
Poetic Form Quatrain  (59%)
Metre 110011101 1011111 1010101 10100111 010101 1110111 1010101 11010101 1111001 1111 1010101 1110101 1110101 111111 0110001 1110111 10111111 111111 11011111 01101001 10111101 1011111 010110111 01111101 01011011 1111101 10000101 1010101 1110101 11011101 1110101 111101101 1111101 1111111 1111101 01111101 1010101 1110101 111111 0110111 1010101 1110011 1010111 0111111 10100101 11101 1110101 1010101 1110001 1110001 1010111 1011101 111111 01100101 1110101 11010100 0111101 0101101 0010101 110100111 11011111 01100101 1110101 011100100 00110100 10111011 110111 1010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 2,367
Words 397
Sentences 26
Stanzas 17
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 68
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 97
Words per stanza (avg) 23
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 25, 2023

1:59 min read
689

William Blake

William Blake was an English poet, painter and printmaker. more…

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