Analysis of Sonnet XLVII: Broken Music
Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828 (London) – 1882 (Birchington-on-Sea)
The mother will not turn, who thinks she hears
Her nursling's speech first grow articulate;
But breathless with averted eyes elate
She sits, with open lips and open ears,
That it may call her twice. 'Mid doubts and fears
Thus oft my soul has hearkened; till the song,
A central moan for days, at length found tongue,
And the sweet music welled and the sweet tears.
But now, whatever while the soul is fain
To list that wonted murmur, as it were
The speech-bound sea-shell's low importunate strain,—
No breath of song, thy voice alone is there,
O bitterly beloved! and all her gain
Is but the pang of unpermitted prayer.
Scheme | ABBCCDEFGHGIGI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101111111 01111010 1101010101 1111010101 1111011101 111111101 0101111111 0011010011 111010111 111110110 01111111 1111110111 1100010101 1101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 616 |
Words | 114 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 486 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 111 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 34 sec read
- 84 Views
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"Sonnet XLVII: Broken Music" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7680/sonnet-xlvii%3A--broken-music>.
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