Analysis of They Desire A Better Country
Christina Georgina Rossetti 1830 (London) – 1894 (London)
I would not if I could undo my past,
Tho' for its sake my future is a blank;
My past, for which I have myself to thank,
For all its faults and follies first and last.
I would not cast anew the lot once cast,
Or launch a second ship for one that sank,
Or drug with sweets the bitterness I drank,
Or break by feasting my perpetual fast.
I would not if I could: for much more dear
Is one remembrance than a hundred joys,
More than a thousand hopes in jubilee;
Dearer the music of one tearful voice
That unforgotten calls and calls to me,
'Follow me here, rise up, and follow here.'
What seekest thou far in the unknown land?
In hope I follow joy gone on before,
In hope and fear persistent more and more,
As the dry desert lengthens out its sand.
Whilst day and night I carry in my hand
The golden key to ope the golden door
Of golden home; yet mine eye weepeth sore
For the long journey that must make no stand.
And who is this that veiled doth walk with thee?
Lo, this is Love that walketh at my right;
One exile holds us both, and we are bound
To selfsame home-joys in the land of light.
Weeping thou walkest with him; weepeth he?—
Some sobbing weep, some weep and make no sound.
A dimness of a glory glimmers here
Thro' veils and distance from the space remote,
A faintest far vibration of a note
Reaches to us and seems to bring us near,
Causing our face to glow with braver cheer,
Making the serried mist to stand afloat,
Subduing langour with an antidote,
And strengthening love almost to cast out fear,
Till for one moment golden city walls
Rise looming on us, golden walls of home,
Light of our eyes until the darkness falls;
Then thro' the outer darkness burdensome
I hear again the tender voice that calls,
'Follow me hither, follow, rise, and come.'
Scheme | ABBAABBACXDXDE FGGFFGGFDHIHDI EJJCCJJCKXKLKL |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111110111 1111110101 111111111 1111010101 1111010111 1101011111 1111010011 11110101001 1111111111 1101010101 110101010 1001011101 1110111 1011110101 111100011 0111011101 0101010101 1011010111 1101110011 0101110101 110111111 1011011111 0111111111 111111111 111110111 111100111 10111111 1101110111 011010101 1101010101 0101010101 1011011111 10101111101 100111101 01011110 0100111111 1111010101 1101110111 11101010101 1101010100 1101010111 1011010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,737 |
Words | 344 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 14, 14, 14 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 456 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 112 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 1:42 min read
- 326 Views
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"They Desire A Better Country" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5961/they-desire-a-better-country>.
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