Analysis of Apparition

William Ernest Henley 1849 (Gloucester) – 1903 (Woking)



Thin-legged, thin-chested, slight unspeakably,
Neat-footed and weak-fingered: in his face -
Lean, large-boned, curved of beak, and touched with race,
Bold-lipped, rich-tinted, mutable as the sea,
The brown eyes radiant with vivacity -
There shines a brilliant and romantic grace,
A spirit intense and rare, with trace on trace
Of passion and impudence and energy.
Valiant in velvet, light in ragged luck,
Most vain, most generous, sternly critical,
Buffoon and poet, lover and sensualist:
A deal of Ariel, just a streak of Puck,
Much Antony, of Hamlet most of all,
And something of the Shorter-Catechist.


Scheme ABBCDBBCEADEAD
Poetic Form
Metre 11011011 1100110011 1111110111 11110100101 01110011 1101000101 01001011111 110010100 1001010101 11110010100 010101001 01110010111 1100110111 01010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 599
Words 97
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 474
Words per stanza (avg) 95
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 11, 2023

29 sec read
116

William Ernest Henley

William Ernest Henley was an English poet, critic and editor, best remembered for his 1875 poem "Invictus". more…

All William Ernest Henley poems | William Ernest Henley Books

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