Sonnet 25 - A heavy heart, Beloved, have I borne

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



XXV

A heavy heart, Beloved, have I borne
From year to year until I saw thy face,
And sorrow after sorrow took the place
Of all those natural joys as lightly worn
As the stringed pearls, each lifted in its turn
By a beating heart at dance-time. Hopes apace
Were changed to long despairs, till God's own grace
Could scarcely lift above the world forlorn
My heavy heart. Then thou didst bid me bring
And let it drop adown thy calmly great
Deep being! Fast it sinketh, as a thing
Which its own nature doth precipitate,
While thine doth close above it, mediating
Betwixt the stars and the unaccomplished fate.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

33 sec read
224

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBACBBADEDEDE
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 598
Words 112
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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

All Elizabeth Barrett Browning poems | Elizabeth Barrett Browning Books

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