Analysis of Venus Verticordia (For a Picture)
Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828 (London) – 1882 (Birchington-on-Sea)
SHE hath the apple in her hand for thee,
Yet almost in her heart would hold it back;
She muses, with her eyes upon the track
Of that which in thy spirit they can see.
Haply, “Behold, he is at peace,” saith she;
“Alas! the apple for his lips,—the dart
That follows its brief sweetness to his heart,—
The wandering of his feet perpetually!”
A little space her glance is still and coy;
But if she give the fruit that works her spell,
Those eyes shall flame as for her Phrygian boy.
Then shall her bird's strained throat the woe foretell,
And her far seas moan as a single shell,
Pandora (For a Picture)
WHAT of the end, Pandora? Was it thine,
The deed that set these fiery pinions free?
Ah! wherefore did the Olympian consistory
In its own likeness make thee half divine?
Was it that Juno's brow might stand a sign
For ever? and the mien of Pallas be
A deadly thing? and that all men might see
In Venus' eyes the gaze of Proserpine?
What of the end? These beat their wings at will,
The ill-born things, the good things turned to ill,—
Powers of the impassioned hours prohibited.
Aye, clench the casket now! Whither they go
Thou mayst not dare to think: nor canst thou know
If Hope still pent there be alive or dead.
Scheme | ABBAACCADEDEEFGAFGGAAGHHIJJK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101000111 110011111 1101010101 1110110111 101111111 0101011101 1101110111 010011101000 0101011101 1111011101 11111101001 1101110101 0011110101 0101010 1101010111 0111110011 111001001 0111011101 1111011101 1100011101 0101011111 01010111 1101111111 0111011111 1010010100100 1101011011 1111111111 1111110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,207 |
Words | 236 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 28 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 936 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 229 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:11 min read
- 145 Views
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"Venus Verticordia (For a Picture)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7782/venus-verticordia-%28for-a-picture%29>.
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