Sonnet 18 - I never gave a lock of hair away

Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806 (Kelloe) – 1861 (Florence)



XVIII

I never gave a lock of hair away
To a man, Dearest, except this to thee,
Which now upon my fingers thoughtfully,
I ring out to the full brown length and say
'Take it.' My day of youth went yesterday;
My hair no longer bounds to my foot's glee,
Nor plant I it from rose or myrtle-tree,
As girls do, any more: it only may
Now shade on two pale cheeks the mark of tears,
Taught drooping from the head that hangs aside
Through sorrow's trick. I thought the funeral-shears
Would take this first, but Love is justified,—
Take it thou,—finding pure, from all those years,
The kiss my mother left here when she died.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 08, 2023

36 sec read
165

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBAABBACDEDFD
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 612
Words 121
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most prominent English poets of the Victorian era. more…

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