Analysis of A Letter to Her Husband
Anne Bradstreet 1612 (Northampton) – 1672 (Andover)
Absent upon Public Employment
My head, my heart, mine eyes, my life, nay more,
My joy, my magazine, of earthly store,
If two be one, as surely thou and I,
How stayest thou there, whilst I at Ipswich lie?
So many steps, head from the heart to sever,
If but a neck, soon should we be together.
I, like the Earth this season, mourn in black,
My Sun is gone so far in's zodiac,
Whom whilst I 'joyed, nor storms, nor frost I felt,
His warmth such fridged colds did cause to melt.
My chilled limbs now numbed lie forlorn;
Return; return, sweet Sol, from Capricorn;
In this dead time, alas, what can I more
Than view those fruits which through thy heart I bore?
Which sweet contentment yield me for a space,
True living pictures of their father's face.
O strange effect! now thou art southward gone,
I weary grow the tedious day so long;
But when thou northward to me shalt return,
I wish my Sun may never set, but burn
Within the Cancer of my glowing breast,
The welcome house of him my dearest guest.
Where ever, ever stay, and go not thence,
Till nature's sad decree shall call thee hence;
Flesh of thy flesh, bone of thy bone,
I here, thou there, yet both but one.
Scheme | X AABBCCDDEEFFAAGGXXHHIIJJXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 100110010 1111111111 111101101 1111110101 111111111 11011101110 11011111010 1101110101 111111010 1111111111 111111111 11111101 0101111100 0111011111 1111111111 1101011101 1101011101 1101111101 11010100111 1111011101 1111110111 0101011101 0101111101 1101010111 1101011111 11111111 11111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,144 |
Words | 222 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 26 |
Lines Amount | 27 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 444 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 110 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:07 min read
- 203 Views
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