Analysis of Perdita



She is beautiful yet, with her wondrous hair
  And eyes that are stormy with fitful light,
The delicate hues of brow and cheek
  Are unmarred all, rose-clear and bright;
That matchless frame yet holds at bay
The crouching bloodhounds, Remorse, Decay.

There is no fear in her great dark eyes --
  No hope, no love, no care,
Stately and proud she looks around
  With a fierce, defiant stare;
Wild words deform her reckless speech,
Her laugh has a sadness tears never reach.

Whom should she fear on earth? Can Fate
  One direr torment lend
To her few little years of glitter and gloom
  With the sad old story to end
When the spectres of Loneliness, Want and Pain
Shall arise one night with Death in their train?

I see in a vision a woman like her
  Trip down an orchard slope,
With rosy prattlers that shout a name
  In tones of rapture and hope;
While the yeoman, gazing at children and wife,
Thanks God for the pride and joy of his life.

Whose conscience is heavy with this dark guilt?
  Who pays at the final day
For a wasted body, a murdered soul,
  And how shall he answer, I say,
For her outlawed years, her early doom,
And despair -- despair -- beyond the tomb?


Scheme ABXBCC XAXADD XEFEGG XHXHII XCXCFF
Poetic Form
Metre 11100110101 0111101101 010011101 1111101 1111111 010100101 111100111 111111 10011101 1010101 1110101 0110101101 11111111 1111 10110111001 10111011 1011100101 1011111011 11001001010 111101 11011101 0111001 10101011001 1110101111 1101101111 1110101 1010100101 01111011 10110101 001010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,174
Words 217
Sentences 8
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 30
Letters per line (avg) 30
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 179
Words per stanza (avg) 43
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:05 min read
109

Rolf Boldrewood

 · 1826 · London
 · 1915 · Melbourne

Thomas Alexander Browne was an Australian author who published many of his works under the pseudonym Rolf Boldrewood. He is best known for his 1882 bushranging novel Robbery Under Arms. more…

All Rolf Boldrewood poems | Rolf Boldrewood Books

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    Who wrote this? 'Look on my Works, ye Mightyand despair!'
    A William Shakespeare
    B P. B. Shelley
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    D William Wordsworth