Analysis of Beauty Is Vain
Christina Georgina Rossetti 1830 (London) – 1894 (London)
While roses are so red,
While lilies are so white,
Shall a woman exalt her face
Because it gives delight?
She's not so sweet as a rose,
A lily's straighter than she,
And if she were as red or white
She'd be but one of three.
Whether she flush in love's summer
Or in its winter grow pale,
Whether she flaunt her beauty
Or hide it away in a veil,
Be she red or white,
And stand she erect or bowed,
Time will win the race he runs with her
And hide her away in a shroud.
Scheme | XAXAXBAB CDBDAECE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110111 110111 10100101 011101 1111101 011011 01101111 111111 10110110 1011011 1011010 11101001 11111 0110111 111011110 01001001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 460 |
Words | 99 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 178 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 49 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 23, 2023
- 30 sec read
- 308 Views
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"Beauty Is Vain" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5745/beauty-is-vain>.
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