Analysis of Not With These Eyes

John Freeman 1880 – 1929



Let me not see your grief!
O, let not any see
That grief,
Nor how your heart still rocks
Like a temple with long earthquake shocks.
Let me not see
Your grief.

These eyes have seen such wrong,
Yet remained cold:
Ills grown strong,
Corruption's many-headed worm
Destroying feet that moved so firm--
Shall these eyes see
Your grief?

And that black worm has crawled
Into the brain
Where thought had walked
Nobly, and love and honour moved as one,
And brave things bravely were begun....
Now, can thought see
Unabashed your grief?

Into that brain your grief
Has run like cleansing fire:
Your grief
Through these unfaithful eyes has leapt
And touched honour where it lightly slept.
Now when I see
In memory your grief

There is no thought that's not
Yours, yours,
No love that sleeps,
No spiritual door that opens not
In the green quiet village of thought
Shining with light,
And silent to your silence.


Scheme abaccbA dxdeebA xxxffba axAggba hxxhxxx
Poetic Form Tetractys  (43%)
Metre 111111 111101 11 111111 10101111 1111 11 111111 1011 111 110101 01011111 1111 11 011111 0101 1111 100101111 01110001 1111 0111 011111 1111010 11 11010111 01111101 1111 010011 111111 11 1111 1100011101 001101011 1011 0101110
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 870
Words 161
Sentences 9
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 7, 7, 7, 7, 7
Lines Amount 35
Letters per line (avg) 20
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 142
Words per stanza (avg) 32
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 21, 2023

48 sec read
319

John Freeman

John Frederick Freeman (29 January 1880 – 23 September 1929) was an English poet and essayist, who gave up a successful career in insurance to write full-time. more…

All John Freeman poems | John Freeman Books

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