Analysis of The flower, full blown, now bends the stalk, now breaks

Alfred Austin 1835 (Leeds) – 1913 (Ashford)



The flower, full blown, now bends the stalk, now breaks;
The mellow fruit inclines the bough to earth;
The brow which thought impregnates ofttimes aches;
Death-stricken is the womb in giving birth.
Cracked is the vase by heat which doth illume,
The driest logs the swiftest burn to nought,
Sweet flowers are stifled by their own perfume,
And bees when honey-clogged are easy caught.
Snapped are true chords e'en by the note they give,
The largest wave is broken by its weight,
Choked by its sheer sufficiency the sieve,
And blunted soon the shaft which flieth straight.
And so the largest mind and richest soul
Are always most amenable to dole.


Scheme ABABCDCDEDEDFF
Poetic Form
Metre 01011110111 0101010111 01110111 1101010101 110111111 0101010111 11011011101 0111011101 11111110111 0101110111 1111010001 010101111 0101010101 111010011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 639
Words 113
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 37
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 515
Words per stanza (avg) 111
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
128

Alfred Austin

Alfred Austin DL was an English poet who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1896 upon the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. more…

All Alfred Austin poems | Alfred Austin Books

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