Analysis of Dost Thou Not Care?

Christina Georgina Rossetti 1830 (London) – 1894 (London)



I love and love not: Lord, it breaks my heart
To love and not to love.
Thou veiled within Thy glory, gone apart
Into Thy shrine, which is above,
Dost Thou not love me, Lord, or care
For this mine ill?—
I love thee here or there,
I will accept thy broken heart, lie still.

Lord, it was well with me in time gone by
That cometh not again,
When I was fresh and cheerful, who but I?
I fresh, I cheerful: worn with pain
Now, out of sight and out of heart;
O Lord, how long?—
I watch thee as thou art,
I will accept thy fainting heart, be strong.

'Lie still,' 'be strong,' to-day; but, Lord, to-morrow,
What of to-morrow, Lord?
Shall there be rest from toil, be truce from sorrow,
Be living green upon the sward
Now but a barren grave to me,
Be joy for sorrow?—
Did I not die for thee?
Did I not live for thee? Leave Me to-morrow.


Scheme ABABCDCD EXEXAFAF GHGHIGIG
Poetic Form
Metre 1101111111 110111 1101110101 01111101 11111111 1111 111111 1101110111 1111110111 110101 1111010111 11110111 11110111 1111 111111 1101110111 11111111110 111101 11111111110 11010101 11010111 11110 111111 11111111110
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 817
Words 172
Sentences 12
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 203
Words per stanza (avg) 55
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 22, 2023

51 sec read
105

Christina Georgina Rossetti

Christina Georgina Rossetti was an English poet who wrote various romantic, devotional, and children's poems. "Goblin Market" and "Remember" remain famous. She wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in the UK: "In the Bleak Midwinter", later set by Gustav Holst and by Harold Darke, and "Love Came Down at Christmas", set by Harold Darke and by other composers. more…

All Christina Georgina Rossetti poems | Christina Georgina Rossetti Books

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