Analysis of Mesmerism
Robert Browning 1812 (Camberwell) – 1889 (Venice)
All I believed is true!
I am able yet
All I want, to get
By a method as strange as new:
Dare I trust the same to you?
If at night, when doors are shut,
And the wood-worm picks,
And the death-watch ticks,
And the bar has a flag of smut,
And a cat's in the water-butt---
And the socket floats and flares,
And the house-beams groan,
And a foot unknown
Is surmised on the garret-stairs,
And the locks slip unawares---
And the spider, to serve his ends,
By a sudden thread,
Arms and legs outspread,
On the table's midst descends,
Comes to find, God knows what friends!---
If since eve drew in, I say,
I have sat and brought
(So to speak) my thought
To bear on the woman away,
Till I felt my hair turn grey---
Till I seemed to have and hold,
In the vacancy
'Twixt the wall and me,
From the hair-plait's chestnut gold
To the foot in its muslin fold---
Have and hold, then and there,
Her, from head to foot,
Breathing and mute,
Passive and yet aware,
In the grasp of my steady stare---
Hold and have, there and then,
All her body and soul
That completes my whole,
All that women add to men,
In the clutch of my steady ken---
Having and holding, till
I imprint her fast
On the void at last
As the sun does whom he will
By the calotypist's skill---
Then,---if my heart's strength serve,
And through all and each
Of the veils I reach
To her soul and never swerve,
Knitting an iron nerve---
Command her soul to advance
And inform the shape
Which has made escape
And before my countenance
Answers me glance for glance---
I, still with a gesture fit
Of my hands that best
Do my soul's behest,
Pointing the power from it,
While myself do steadfast sit---
Steadfast and still the same
On my object bent,
While the hands give vent
To my ardour and my aim
And break into very flame---
Then I reach, I must believe,
Not her soul in vain,
For to me again
It reaches, and past retrieve
Is wound in the toils I weave;
And must follow as I require,
As befits a thrall,
Bringing flesh and all,
Essence and earth-attire,
To the source of the tractile fire:
Till the house called hers, not mine,
With a growing weight
Seems to suffocate
If she break not its leaden line
And escape from its close confine.
Out of doors into the night!
On to the maze
Of the wild wood-ways,
Not turning to left nor right
From the pathway, blind with sight---
Making thro' rain and wind
O'er the broken shrubs,
'Twixt the stems and stubs,
With a still, composed, strong mind,
Nor a care for the world behind---
Swifter and still more swift,
As the crowding peace
Doth to joy increase
In the wide blind eyes uplift
Thro' the darkness and the drift!
While I---to the shape, I too
Feel my soul dilate
Nor a whit abate,
And relax not a gesture due,
As I see my belief come true.
For, there! have I drawn or no
Life to that lip?
Do my fingers dip
In a flame which again they throw
On the cheek that breaks a-glow?
Ha! was the hair so first?
What, unfilleted,
Made alive, and spread
Through the void with a rich outburst,
Chestnut gold-interspersed?
Like the doors of a casket-shrine,
See, on either side,
Her two arms divide
Till the heart betwixt makes sign,
Take me, for I am thine!
``Now---now''---the door is heard!
Hark, the stairs! and near---
Nearer---and here---
``Now!'' and at call the third
She enters without a word.
On doth she march and on
To the fancied shape;
It is, past escape,
Herself, now: the dream is done
And the shadow and she are one.
First I will pray. Do Thou
That ownest the soul,
Yet wilt grant control
To another, nor disallow
For a time, restrain me now!
I admonish me while I may,
Not to squander guilt,
Since require Thou wilt
At my
Scheme | Text too long |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110111 11101 11111 10101111 1110111 1111111 00111 00111 00110111 00100101 0010101 00111 00101 10110101 001101 00101111 10101 1011 1010101 1111111 1111011 11101 11111 11101001 1111111 1111101 00100 10101 101111 10101101 101101 01111 1001 100101 00111101 101101 101001 10111 1110111 00111101 100101 10101 10111 1011111 1011 111111 01101 10111 1010101 101101 0101101 00101 11101 0011100 101111 1110101 11111 11101 1001011 11111 10101 11101 10111 111011 0101101 1111101 10101 11101 1100101 1100111 01101110 10101 10101 1001010 10110110 1011011 10101 1110 11111101 00111101 1110101 1101 10111 1101111 101111 101101 100101 10101 1010111 10110101 100111 10101 11101 0011110 1010001 1110111 11101 10101 00110101 11110111 1111111 1111 11101 00110111 1011101 110111 11 10101 1011011 1101 10110101 11101 01101 1010111 111111 110111 10101 1001 101101 1100101 111101 10101 11101 0110111 0010111 111111 1101 11101 1010101 1010111 10101111 11101 11011 11 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 3,722 |
Words | 717 |
Sentences | 49 |
Stanzas | 27 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4 |
Lines Amount | 134 |
Letters per line (avg) | 20 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 101 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 07, 2023
- 3:37 min read
- 174 Views
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"Mesmerism" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/30384/mesmerism>.
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