To What Shall I Compare Her?

Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 (Edinburgh) – 1894 (Vailima, Samoa)



TO what shall I compare her,
That is as fair as she?
For she is fairer - fairer
Than the sea.
What shall be likened to her,
The sainted of my youth?
For she is truer - truer
Than the truth.

As the stars are from the sleeper,
Her heart is hid from me;
For she is deeper - deeper
Than the sea.
Yet in my dreams I view her
Flush rosy with new ruth -
Dreams!  Ah, may these prove truer
Than the truth.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 17, 2023

26 sec read
485

Quick analysis:

Scheme abaBacaC abaBacaC
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 390
Words 87
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 8

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. more…

All Robert Louis Stevenson poems | Robert Louis Stevenson Books

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