Analysis of Place De La Bastille, Paris

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



How dear the sky has been above this place!
Small treasures of this sky that we see here
Seen weak through prison-bars from year to year;
Eyed with a painful prayer upon God's grace
To save, and tears which stayed along the face
Lifted at sunset. Yea, how passing dear
Those nights when through the bars a wind left clear
The heaven, and moonlight soothed the limpid space!
So was it, till one night the secret kept
Safe in low vault and stealthy corridor
Was blown abroad on gospel-tongues of flame.
O ways of God, mysterious evermore!
How many on this spot have cursed and wept
That all might stand here now and own Thy Name.


Scheme ABCAACCADEFGDF
Poetic Form
Metre 1101110111 1101111111 1111011111 1101010111 1101110101 101111101 1111010111 010011011 1111110101 1011010100 1101110111 1111010010 1101111101 1111110111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 635
Words 118
Sentences 7
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 497
Words per stanza (avg) 116
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 30, 2023

35 sec read
56

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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