Analysis of Sonnet XVII: Beauty's Pageant
Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828 (London) – 1882 (Birchington-on-Sea)
What dawn-pulse at the heart of heaven, or last
Incarnate flower of culminating day,—
What marshalled marvels on the skirts of May,
Or song full-quired, sweet June's encomiast;
What glory of change by Nature's hand amass'd
Can vie with all those moods of varying grace
Which o'er one loveliest woman's form and face
Within this hour, within this room, have pass'd?
Love's very vesture and elect disguise
Was each fine movement,—wonder new-begot
Of lily or swan or swan-stemmed galiot;
Joy to his sight who now the sadlier sighs,
Parted again; and sorrow yet for eyes
Unborn, that read these words and saw her not.
Scheme | ABBAACCADEADDF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110111011 0101011001 1101010111 1111111 11011110101 11111111001 1101110101 01110011111 110100101 1111010101 110111111 11111101001 1001010111 1111110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 612 |
Words | 108 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 483 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 104 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 34 sec read
- 104 Views
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"Sonnet XVII: Beauty's Pageant" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7684/sonnet-xvii%3A--beauty%27s-pageant>.
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