Analysis of When I Was One-and-Twenty
Alfred Edward Housman 1859 – 1936
When I was one-and-twenty
I heard a wise man say,
"Give crowns and pounds and guineas
But not your heart away;
Give pearls away and rubies
But keep your fancy free."
But I was one-and-twenty,
No use to talk to me.
When I was one-and-twenty
I heard him say again,
"The heart out of the bosom
Was never given in vain;
'Tis paid with sighs a plenty
And sold for endless rue."
And I am two-and-twenty,
And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.
Scheme | Abcbcaaa Axxxadad |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111010 110111 1101010 111101 1101010 111101 1111010 111111 1111010 111101 0111010 1101001 1111010 011101 0111010 011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 420 |
Words | 86 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 20 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 160 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 41 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 25 sec read
- 906 Views
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"When I Was One-and-Twenty" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/941/when-i-was-one-and-twenty>.
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