Portrait and Reality
Henry Van Dyke 1852 (Germantown, Pennsylvania) – 1933 (Princeton, New Jersey)
If on the closed curtain of my sight
My fancy paints thy portrait far away,
I see thee still the same, by night or day;
Crossing the crowded street, or moving bright
'Mid festal throngs, or reading by the light
Of shaded lamp some friendly poet's lay,
Or shepherding the children at their play,--
The same sweet self, and my unchanged delight.
But when I see thee near, I recognize
In every dear familiar way some strange
Perfection, and behold in April guise
The magic of thy beauty that doth range
Through many moods with infinite surprise,--
Never the same, and sweeter with each change.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 33 sec read
- 100 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBAABBA CDCDCD |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 585 |
Words | 109 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 6 |
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"Portrait and Reality" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 Oct. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/18364/portrait-and-reality>.
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