Analysis of The Main Regret

George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)



[Written for the Charing Cross Album]

Seen, too clear and historic within us, our sins of omission
Frown when the Autumn days strike us all ruthlessly bare.
They of our mortal diseases find never healing physician;
Errors they of the soul, past the one hope to repair.

Sunshine might we have been unto seed under soil, or have scattered
Seed to ascendant suns brighter than any that shone.
Even the limp-legged beggar a sick desperado has flattered
Back to a half-sloughed life cheered by the mere human tone.


Scheme X ABAB CDCD
Poetic Form
Metre 10101110 11100100111011010 1101011111001 11101001011010010 1011011011101 111111011011110 1101011011011 1001101001010110 1101111101101
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 514
Words 92
Sentences 7
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 1, 4, 4
Lines Amount 9
Letters per line (avg) 46
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 137
Words per stanza (avg) 29
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

27 sec read
34

George Meredith

George Meredith was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times. more…

All George Meredith poems | George Meredith Books

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