Analysis of Etude Realiste
Algernon Charles Swinburne 1837 (London) – 1909 (London)
A Baby's feet, like sea-shells pink,
Might tempt, should heaven see meet,
An angel's lips to kiss, we think,
A baby's feet.
Like rose-hued sea-flowers toward the heat
They stretch and spread and wink
Their ten soft buds that part and meet.
No flower-bells that expand and shrink
Gleam half so heavenly sweet
As shine on life's untrodden brink
A baby's feet.
A baby's hands, like rosebuds furled
Whence yet no leaf expands,
Ope if you touch, though close upcurled,
A baby's hands.
Then, fast as warriors grip their brands
When battle's bolt is hurled,
They close, clenched hard like tightening bands.
No rosebuds yet by dawn impearled
Match, even in loveliest lands,
The sweetest flowers in all the world -
A baby's hands.
A baby's eyes, ere speech begin,
Ere lips learn words or sighs,
Bless all things bright enough to win
A baby's eyes.
Love, while the sweet thing laughs and lies,
And sleep flows out and in,
Sees perfect in them Paradise.
Their glance might cast out pain and sin,
Their speech make dumb the wise,
By mute glad godhead felt within
A baby's eyes.
Scheme | abaB bab abaB bcbC cdc bcdC efeF fex efeF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01011111 1111011 1111111 0101 1111100101 110101 11111101 110110101 1111001 111111 0101 0101111 111101 1111111 0101 111100111 110111 111111001 111111 110011 010100101 0101 01011101 111111 11110111 0101 11011101 011100 1010110 11111101 111101 1111101 0101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,078 |
Words | 192 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 3, 4, 4, 3, 4, 4, 3, 4 |
Lines Amount | 33 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 92 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 21 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:01 min read
- 137 Views
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"Etude Realiste" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1314/etude-realiste>.
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