Analysis of Mother Song

Edith Nesbit 1858 (Kennington, Surrey ) – 1924 (New Romney, Kent)



_From the Portuguese._

HEAVY my heart is, heavy to carry,
Full of soft foldings, of downy enwrapments--
And the outer fold of all is love,
And the next soft fold is love,
And the next, finer and softer, is love again;
And were they unwound before the eyes
More folds and more folds and more folds would unroll
Of love--always love,
And, quite at the last,
Deep in the nest, in the soft-packed nest,
One last fold, turned back, would disclose
You, little heart of my heart,
Laid there so warm, so soft, so soft,
Not knowing where you lie, nor how softly,
Nor why your nest is so soft,
Nor how your nest is so warm.
You, little heart of my heart,
You lie in my heart,
Warm, safe and soft as this body of yours,
This dear kissed body of yours that lies
Here in my arms and sucks the strength from my breast,
The strength you will break my heart with one of these days.


Scheme a baccxaxcxdaEfbfxEeaada
Poetic Form
Metre 101 1011110110 11111101 001011111 0011111 001100101101 001010101 1101101111 1111 01101 100100111 11111101 1101111 11111111 1101111110 1111111 1111111 1101111 11011 1101111011 111101111 10110101111 011111111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 851
Words 171
Sentences 4
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 1, 22
Lines Amount 23
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 331
Words per stanza (avg) 84
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

51 sec read
139

Edith Nesbit

Edith Nesbit (married name Edith Bland) was an English author and poet; she published her books for children under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on more than 60 books of children's literature. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a socialist organisation later affiliated to the Labour Party. more…

All Edith Nesbit poems | Edith Nesbit Books

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