Analysis of Laus Virginitatis
Arthur Symons 1865 (Milford Haven) – 1945
The mirror of men's eyes delights me less,
O mirror, than the friend I find in thee;
Thou lovest, as I love, my loveliness,
Thou givest my beauty back to me.
I to myself suffice; why should I tire
The heart with roaming that would rest at home?
Myself the limit to my own desire,
I have no desire to roam.
I hear the maidens crying in the hills:
'Come up among the bleak and perilous ways,
Come up and follow after Love, who fills
The hollows of our nights and days;
'Love the deliverer, who is desolate,
And saves from desolation; the divine
Out of great suffering; Love, compassionate,
Who is thy bread and wine,
'O soul, that faints in following after him.'
I hear; but what is Love that I should tread
Hard ways among the perilous passes dim,
Who need no succouring wine and bread?
Enough it is to dream, enough to abide
Here where the loud world's echoes fall remote,
Untroubled, unawakened, satisfied;
As water-lilies float
Lonely upon a shadow-sheltered pool,
Dreaming of their own whiteness; even so,
I dwell within a nest of shadows cool,
And watch the vague hours come and go.
They come and go, but I my own delight
Remain, and I desire no change in aught:
Might I escape indifferent Time's despite,
That ruins all he wrought!
This dainty body formed so curiously,
So delicately and wonderfully made,
Mine own, that none hath ever shared with me,
Mine own, and for myself arrayed;
All this that I have loved and not another,
My one desire's delight, this, shall Time bring
Where Beauty hath the abhorred worm for brother,
The dust for covering?
At least I bear it virgin to the grave,
Pure, and apart, and rare, and casketed;
What, living, was mine own and no man's slave,
Shall be mine own when I am dead.
But thou, my friend, my mirror, dost possess
The shadow of myself that smiles in thee,
And thou dost give, with thine own loveliness,
My beauty back to me.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ KLKL MNMN OGOX BPBP CQCQ RGRJ ABAB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (92%) |
Metre | 0101110111 1101011101 1111111 11110111 1110111110 0111011111 1010111010 11101011 1101010001 11010101001 1101010111 010110101 10010011100 011010001 11110010100 111101 11110100101 1111111111 11010100101 1111101 01111101101 1101110101 010110 110101 100101101 1011110101 110101111 010110101 1101111101 01010101101 1101010101 110111 11010111000 11000010001 1111110111 1101101 11111101010 111011111 11010011110 011100 1111110101 10010101 1101110111 11111111 1111110101 01111101 01111111 110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,844 |
Words | 346 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 121 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:45 min read
- 106 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Laus Virginitatis" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/3975/laus-virginitatis>.
Discuss this Arthur Symons poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In