Analysis of Sonnet XCIV: Michelangelo 's Kiss

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



Great Michelangelo, with age grown bleak
And uttermost labours, having once o'ersaid
All grievous memories on his long life shed,
This worst regret to one true heart could speak:—
That when, with sorrowing love and reverence meek,
He stooped o'er sweet Colonna's dying bed,
His Muse and dominant Lady, spirit-wed,—
Her hand he kissed, but not her brow or cheek.
O Buonarruoti,—good at Art's fire-wheels
To urge her chariot!—even thus the Soul,
Touching at length some sorely-chastened goal,
Earns oftenest but a little: her appeals
Were deep and mute,—lowly her claim. Let be:
What holds for her Death's garner? And for thee?


Scheme ABBAABBACDDCEE
Poetic Form
Metre 10101111 0111011 11010011111 1101111111 1111101001 111011101 11010010101 0111110111 11111101 11010010101 1011110101 111010001 0101100111 1110110011
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 630
Words 109
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 490
Words per stanza (avg) 102
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
100

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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