Analysis of A Dirge

Christina Georgina Rossetti 1830 (London) – 1894 (London)



Why were you born when the snow was falling?
You should have come to the cuckoo's calling
Or when grapes are green in the cluster,
Or, at least, when lithe swallows muster
For their far off flying
From summer dying.

Why did you die when the lambs were cropping?
You should have died at the apples' dropping,
When the grasshopper comes to trouble,
And the wheat-fields are sodden stubble,
And all winds go sighing
For sweet things dying.


Scheme AABBAA AACCAA
Poetic Form
Metre 1011101110 1111101010 111110010 111111010 111110 11010 1111101010 1111101010 10101110 001111010 011110 11110
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 444
Words 80
Sentences 5
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 6, 6
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 173
Words per stanza (avg) 39
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

24 sec read
151

Christina Georgina Rossetti

Christina Georgina Rossetti was an English poet who wrote various romantic, devotional, and children's poems. "Goblin Market" and "Remember" remain famous. She wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in the UK: "In the Bleak Midwinter", later set by Gustav Holst and by Harold Darke, and "Love Came Down at Christmas", set by Harold Darke and by other composers. more…

All Christina Georgina Rossetti poems | Christina Georgina Rossetti Books

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