Analysis of Some Busy Hands…
Edith Wharton 1862 (New York City) – 1937 (Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt)
SOME busy hands have brought to light,
And laid beneath my eye,
The dress I wore that afternoon
You came to say good-by.
About it still there seems to cling
Some fragrance unexpressed,
The ghostly odor of the rose
I wore upon my breast;
And, subtler than all flower-scent,
The sacred garment holds
The memory of that parting day
Close hidden in its folds.
The rose is dead, and you are gone,
But to the dress I wore
The rose's smell, the thought of you,
Are wed forevermore.
That day you came to say good-by
(A month ago! It seems a year!)
How calm I was! I met your eye,
And in my own you saw no tear.
You heard me laugh and talk and jest,
And lightly grieve that you should go;
You saw the rose upon my breast,
But not the breaking heart below.
And when you came and took my hand,
It scarcely fluttered in your hold.
Alas, you did not understand!
For you were blind, and I was cold.
And now you cannot see my tears,
And now you cannot hear my cry.
A month ago? Nay, years and years
Have aged my heart since that good-by.
Scheme | ABXB XAXC XDXD XEXE BXBX CFCF GHGH XBXB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (88%) |
Metre | 11011111 010111 0111101 111111 01111111 1101 01010101 110111 010011101 010101 010011101 110011 01110111 110111 01010111 111 11111111 01011101 11111111 00111111 11110101 01011111 11010111 11010101 01110111 11010011 0111101 11010111 01110111 01110111 01011101 11111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,035 |
Words | 206 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 98 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:02 min read
- 99 Views
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"Some Busy Hands…" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9092/some-busy-hands%E2%80%A6>.
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