Analysis of Sonnet LIII: Without Her

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



What of her glass without her? The blank grey
There where the pool is blind of the moon's face.
Her dress without her? The tossed empty space
Of cloud-rack whence the moon has passed away.
Her paths without her? Day's appointed sway
Usurped by desolate night. Her pillowed place
Without her? Tears, ah me! for love's good grace,
And cold forgetfulness of night or day.
What of the heart without her? Nay, poor heart,
Of thee what word remains ere speech be still?
A wayfarer by barren ways and chill,
Steep ways and weary, without her thou art,
Where the long cloud, the long wood's counterpart,
Sheds doubled darkness up the labouring hill.


Scheme ABBAABBACDDCCD
Poetic Form
Metre 1101010011 1101111011 0101001101 1111011101 0101010101 111001011 0101111111 0111111 1101010111 1111011111 01110101 1101001011 101101110 110101011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 636
Words 115
Sentences 13
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 503
Words per stanza (avg) 113
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
119

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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