Analysis of Written in the Blank Page of the Sorrows of Werther
Anna Seward 1742 (Eyam) – 1809
O thou, who turnest this impassioned leaf,
Where Anguish claims the sympathetic grief,
If no relentless prejudice can bind
In stagnant frost the mercy of thy mind;
If thou shalt guess how hard to inflict the smart
Of icy absence on the glowing heart,
When all that charm'd the sense, th' affection won,
Dwells in that form, which prudence bids us shun;
That present, soothes each rankling woe to rest,
Departed, desolates the languid breast,
Then thou'lt lament, amidst thy virtuous blame,
The wretched victim of a baneful flame,
Where ill-starr'd Love its deadliest lightning shed
On the pale Suicide's devoted head,
And woes, that would no holier thought allow,
Threw ghastly shadows on the bleeding brow.--
Still, as thou weep'st their unresisted powers,
The virtues of the lost-one's happier hours
Shall o'er his fatal errors gently rise,
Live in thy heart, and consecrate thy sighs!
And for the soft compassion thou hast shown
For woes and frailties, to thy soul unknown,
For generous sympathy, which shines confest,
Eternal inmate of the noble breast,
Ne'er may embosom'd grief thine eye-lids dim,--
O! live to love, but not to mourn, like him!
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKBELL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111110101 110100101 1101010011 0101010111 11111110101 1101010101 111101110101 1011110111 1101110111 01010101 11010111001 010101011 11111100101 10110101 01111100101 110110101 111111110 010101110010 11011010101 101101011 0101010111 1101011101 1100100111 010110101 11111111 1111111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,158 |
Words | 195 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 26 |
Lines Amount | 26 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 908 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 191 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:01 min read
- 51 Views
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