Analysis of Ne Sit Ancillae Tibi Amor Pudor

Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 (Edinburgh) – 1894 (Vailima, Samoa)



THERE'S just a twinkle in your eye
That seems to say I MIGHT, if I
Were only bold enough to try
An arm about your waist.
I hear, too, as you come and go,
That pretty nervous laugh, you know;
And then your cap is always so
Coquettishly displaced.

Your cap! the word's profanely said.
That little top-knot, white and red,
That quaintly crowns your graceful head,
No bigger than a flower,
Is set with such a witching art,
Is so provocatively smart,
I'd like to wear it on my heart,
An order for an hour!

O graceful housemaid, tall and fair,
I love your shy imperial air,
And always loiter on the stair
When you are going by.
A strict reserve the fates demand;
But, when to let you pass I stand,
Sometimes by chance I touch your hand
And sometimes catch your eye.


Scheme AAABCCCB DDDEFFFE GGGAHHHA
Poetic Form
Metre 11010011 11111111 01010111 110111 11111101 11010111 0111111 101 110111 11011101 11011101 1101010 11110101 11010001 11111111 1101110 1101101 111101001 0110101 111101 01010101 11111111 01111111 001111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 744
Words 147
Sentences 8
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 195
Words per stanza (avg) 48
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

45 sec read
91

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. more…

All Robert Louis Stevenson poems | Robert Louis Stevenson Books

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