Modern Love XV: I Think She Sleeps
George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)
I think she sleeps: it must be sleep, when low
Hangs that abandoned arm toward the floor;
The face turned with it. Now make fast the door.
Sleep on: it is your husband, not your foe.
The Poet's black stage-lion of wronged love,
Frights not our modern dames:--well if he did!
Now will I pour new light upon that lid,
Full-sloping like the breasts beneath. 'Sweet dove,
Your sleep is pure. Nay, pardon: I disturb.
I do not? good!' Her waking infant-stare
Grows woman to the burden my hands bear:
Her own handwriting to me when no curb
Was left on Passion's tongue. She trembles through;
A woman's tremble--the whole instrument:--
I show another letter lately sent.
The words are very like: the name is new.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 72 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBACDDCEFFEGHIG |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 712 |
Words | 131 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
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"Modern Love XV: I Think She Sleeps" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/15529/modern-love-xv:-i-think-she-sleeps>.
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