Analysis of Alas, So Long!

Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828 (London) – 1882 (Birchington-on-Sea)



AH! dear one, we were young so long,
It seemed that youth would never go,
For skies and trees were ever in song
And water in singing flow
In the days we never again shall know.
Alas, so long!
Ah! then was it all Spring weather?
Nay, but we were young and together.
Ah! dear one, I've been old so long,
It seems that age is loth to part,
Though days and years have never a song,
And oh! have they still the art
That warmed the pulses of heart to heart?
Alas, so long!
Ah! then was it all Spring weather?
Nay, but we were young and together.
Ah! dear one, you've been dead so long,—
How long until we meet again,
Where hours may never lose their song
Nor flowers forget the rain
In glad noonlight that never shall wane?
Alas, so long!
Ah! shall it be then Spring weather,
And ah! shall we be young together?


Scheme ababbACCadaddACCaeaffAcc
Poetic Form
Metre 11110111 11111101 110101001 0100101 0011100111 0111 11111110 111010010 11111111 11111111 110111001 0111101 110101111 0111 11111110 111010010 11111111 11011101 110110111 1100101 01111011 0111 11111110 011111010
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 792
Words 162
Sentences 20
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 24
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 609
Words per stanza (avg) 159
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

49 sec read
83

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. more…

All Dante Gabriel Rossetti poems | Dante Gabriel Rossetti Books

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