Analysis of Tell me not here, it needs not saying
Alfred Edward Housman 1859 – 1936
Tell me not here, it needs not saying,
What tune the enchantress plays
In aftermaths of soft September
Or under blanching mays,
For she and I were long acquainted
And I knew all her ways.
On russet floors, by waters idle,
The pine lets fall its cone;
The cuckoo shouts all day at nothing
In leafy dells alone;
And traveller’s joy beguiles in autumn
Hearts that have lost their own.
On acres of the seeded grasses
The changing burnish heaves;
Or marshalled under moons of harvest
Stand still all night the sheaves;
Or beeches strip in storms for winter
And stain the wind with leaves.
Posses, as I possessed a season,
The countries I resign,
Where over elmy plains the highway
Would mount the hills and shine,
And full of shade the pillared forest
Would murmur and be mine.
For nature, heartless, witless nature,
Will neither care nor know
What stranger’s feet may find the meadow
And trespass there and go,
Nor ask amid the dews of morning
If they are mine or no.
Scheme | ABCBXB XDADXD XEFECE XGXGFG CHHHAH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (30%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 111111110 11011 01011010 11011 110101010 011101 110111010 011111 01111110 010101 010011010 111111 110101010 010101 110101110 111101 11101110 010111 101101010 010101 1101101 110101 011101010 110011 110101010 110111 11011101 01101 110101110 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 946 |
Words | 176 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 153 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 35 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 22, 2023
- 52 sec read
- 228 Views
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"Tell me not here, it needs not saying" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/911/tell-me-not-here%2C-it-needs-not-saying>.
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