Analysis of The Foreign Land

Coventry Patmore 1823 (Woodford, London) – 1896 (Lymington)



A woman is a foreign land,
Of which, though there he settle young,
A man will ne'er quite understand
The customs, politics, and tongue.
The foolish hie them post-haste through,
See fashions odd, and prospects fair,
Learn of the language, "How d'ye do,"
And go and brag they have been there.
The most for leave to trade apply,
For once, at Empire's seat, her heart,
Then get what knowledge ear and eye
Glean chancewise in the life-long mart.
And certain others, few and fit,
Attach them to the Court, and see
The Country's best, its accent hit,
And partly sound its polity.


Scheme ABABCDCDEFEFGHGH
Poetic Form Traditional rhyme
Metre 01010101 11111101 0111101 0101001 01011111 11010101 110101111 01011111 01111101 111100101 11110101 1100111 01010101 01110101 01011011 01011100
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 565
Words 105
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 440
Words per stanza (avg) 102
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
73

Coventry Patmore

Coventry Kersey Dighton Patmore was an English poet and critic best known for The Angel in the House, his narrative poem about an ideal happy marriage. more…

All Coventry Patmore poems | Coventry Patmore Books

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