Analysis of False, but Beautiful
John Rollin Ridge 1827 (New Echota) – 1867 ( Grass Valley)
Dark as a demon’s dream is one I love—
In soul—but oh, how beautiful in form!
She glows like Venus throned in joy above,
Or on the crimson couch of Evening warm
Reposing her sweet limbs, her heaving breast
Unveiled to him who lights the golden west!
Ah, me, to be by that soft hand carest,
To feel the twining of that snowy arm,
To drink that sigh with richest love opprest,
To bathe within that sunny sea of smiles,
To wander in that wilderness of wiles
And blissful blandishments—it is to thrill
With subtle poison, and to feel the will
Grow weak in that which all the veins doth fill.
Fair sorceress! I know she spreads a net
The strong, the just, the brave to snare; and yet
My soul cannot, for its own sake, forget
The fascinating glance which flings its chain
Around my quivering heart and throbbing brain,
And binds me to my painful destiny,
As bird, that soars no more on high,
Hangs trembling on the serpent’s doomful eye.
Scheme | ABABCCCDCEEFFFGGGHHIJJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101011111 0111110001 1111010101 1101011101 10110101 0111110101 111111111 1101011101 111111011 1101110111 1100110011 0101001111 1101001101 1101110111 11111101 0101011101 1110111101 010011111 01110010101 0111110100 11111111 1100101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 920 |
Words | 173 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 22 |
Lines Amount | 22 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 730 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 173 |
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"False, but Beautiful" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/54084/false%2C-but-beautiful>.
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