Analysis of Sonnet XXXV: What Means the Mist
Mary Darby Robinson 1757 (England) – 1800 (England)
What means the mist opaque that veils these eyes;
Why does yon threat'ning tempest shroud the day?
Why does thy altar, Venus, fade away,
And on my breast the dews of horror rise?
Phaon is false! be dim ye orient Skies;
And let black Erebus succeed your ray;
Let clashing thunders roll, and lightning play;
Phaon is false! and hopeless Sappho dies!
"Farewell! my Lesbian love, you might have said,"
Such sweet remembrance had some pity prov'd,
"Or coldly this, farewell, Oh! Lesbian maid!"
No task severe, for one so fondly lov'd!
The gentle thought had sooth'd my wand'ring shade,
From life's dark valley, and its thorns remov'd!
Scheme | ABBAABBACDEFED |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101011111 1111110101 1111010101 0111011101 111111101 01110111 1101010101 11101011 1110011111 1101011101 1101111001 1101111101 0101111111 1111001101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 624 |
Words | 112 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 485 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 108 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 67 Views
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"Sonnet XXXV: What Means the Mist" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/26817/sonnet-xxxv%3A-what-means-the-mist>.
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