Analysis of Overheard in a conservatory
Alice Duer Miller 1874 (New York) – 1942 (New York)
HE (after a pause) : Dear, are you angry?
SHE: Yes, though not at you,
But at myself. Of course, we know it's true
That when a man respects a girl...
HE (interrupting) : I thought
You'd say that. It's the nonsense girls are taught.
You know, as well as I do, I revere
You more than any other woman, dear.
SHE (indignantly) : You'd not have done it to Elfrida Hood.
HE: Immortal gods! I shouldn't think I would.
SHE (haughtily) : If this but seems to you fit food for jest
I say no more. Silence were plainly best.
HE (very seriously) : Dear, if I jest, it is because I read
The hopelessness of aught that I could plead
In your stern eyes, which righteous wrath betray.
Were you another woman, I should say
That you were fair, and I, it seems, was mad,
But that the last long waltz that we had had :
Might very well have turned a wiser head.
A hundred things like this I might have said
To women who would take them as excuse.
You think none possible - so what's the use?
SHE: Then why discuss it further? Let us go.
HE: One minute! I should like you first to know
I did not think that this would be the end
When, two weeks since, you said you'd be my friend.
SHE (reflectively) : Only two weeks.
HE: Not long, 'tis true, and yet,
You've stopped my doing much I should regret.
Nor should I murmur that you teach how far
More hard than others all good women are.
SHE (emphatically) : That is not true, indeed it is not true.
Some men I could forgive this, but not you.
You would go home, and smile, and think I meant
I viewed it merely as a...
HE (politely) : Precedent!
Was that the word? Indeed, in this respect
You wrong, to say the least, my intellect.
If you forgave me, I should understand
Just what it meant. . .
SHE (hastily) : Oh, please let go my hand!
Here is papa, who comes, I know, to say
That it is late, and time to go away.
HE: I do not care a bit how late it is,
I only know we cannot part like this.
Show me, at least, you do not doubt my sorrow.
SHE (hesitatingly) : Well - come as usual at five to-morrow.
Scheme | ABBCDDEEFFGGHIJJKKHHLLMMNNOPPQQBBRSTUUVRVJJWXMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1100111110 111111 111111111 11010101 101011 1111010111 1111111101 1111010101 101001111110101 10101110111 11001111111111 1111100101 11010001111110111 0100111111 0111110101 0101010111 1101011111 1101111111 1101110101 0101111111 1101111101 1111001101 11101110111 11101111111 1111111101 1111111111 111011 1111101 1111011101 1111011111 1111011101 101001111011111 1111011111 1111010111 1111010 1010100 1101010101 111101110 110111101 1111 1100111111 1110111111 1111011101 11111011111 1101110111 11111111110 1111110011110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,002 |
Words | 395 |
Sentences | 37 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 47 |
Lines Amount | 47 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,494 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 406 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:01 min read
- 90 Views
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"Overheard in a conservatory" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1472/overheard-in-a-conservatory>.
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