Analysis of Nurse Green
Charles Lamb 1775 (Inner Temple, London) – 1834 (Edmonton, London)
'Your prayers you have said, and you've wished good night:
What cause is there yet keeps my darling awake?
This throb in your bosom proclaims some affright
Disturbs your composure. Can innocence quake?
'Why thus do you cling to my neck, and enfold me,
What fear unimparted your quiet devours?'
'O mother, there's reason-for Susan has told me,
A dead body lies in the room next to ours.'
'I know it; and, but for forgetfulness, dear,
I meant you the coffin this day should have seen,
And read the inscription, and told me the year
And day of the death of your poor old Nurse Green.'
'O not for the wealth of the world would I enter
A chamber wherein a dead body lay hid,
Lest somebody bolder than I am should venture
To go near the coffin and lift up the lid.'
'And should they do so and the coffin uncover,
The corpse underneath it would be no ill sight;
This frame, when its animal functions are over,
Has nothing of horror the living to fright.
To start at the dead is preposterous error,
To shrink from a foe that can never contest;
Shall that which is motionless move thee to terror;
Or thou become restless, 'cause they are at rest?
To think harm of her our good feelings forbid us
By whom when a babe you were dandled and fed;
Who living so many good offices did us,
I ne'er can persuade me would hurt us when dead.
But if no endeavour your terrors can smother,
If vainly against apprehension you strive,
Come, bury your fears in the arms of your mother;
My darling, cling close to me, I am alive.'
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH GAGA GIGI JKJK GLGL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1111101111 11111111001 1101100111 01101011001 111111110011 111110010 110110110111 011010011110 11101111 11101011111 01001001101 01101111111 111011011110 01001011011 11010111110 11101001101 011110010010 0101111111 111110010110 11011001011 111011010010 11101111010 111110011110 11011011111 1111010110011 1110110101 110110110011 11101111111 111010110110 1100101011 110110011110 11011111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,481 |
Words | 290 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 146 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 35 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 17, 2023
- 1:26 min read
- 123 Views
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"Nurse Green" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5357/nurse-green>.
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