Analysis of Once
Trumbull Stickney 1874 (Geneva) – 1904
That day her eyes were deep as night.
She had the motion of the rose,
The bird that veers across the light,
The waterfall that leaps and throws
Its irised spindrift to the sun.
She seemed a wind of music passing on.
Alone I saw her that one day
Stand in the window of my life.
Her sudden hand melted away
Under my lips, and without strife
I held her in my arms awhile
And drew into my lips her living smile, --
Now many a day ago and year!
Since when I dream and lie awake
In summer nights to feel her near,
And from the heavy darkness break
Glitters, till all my spirit swims
And her hand hovers on my shaking limbs.
If once again before I die
I drank the laughter of her mouth
And quenched my fever utterly,
I say, and should it cost my youth,
'T were well! for I no more should wait
Hammering midnight on the doors of fate.
Scheme | ABABXX CDCDEE FGFGHH XXXXII |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010111 11010101 01110101 0101101 111101 1101110101 01110111 10010111 01011001 10110011 11001101 0101110101 110010101 11110101 01011101 01010101 10111101 0011011101 11010111 11010101 01110100 11011111 101111111 100110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 834 |
Words | 168 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 160 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 50 sec read
- 61 Views
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"Once" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/37236/once>.
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