Analysis of The Return
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
They turned him loose; he bowed his head,
A felon, bent and grey.
His face was even as the Dead,
He had no word to say.
He sought the home of his old love,
To look on her once more;
And where her roses breathed above,
He cowered beside the door.
She sat there in the shining room;
Her hair was silver grey.
He stared and stared from out the gloom;
He turned to go away.
Her roses rustled overhead.
She saw, with sudden start.
"I knew that you would come," she said,
And held him to her heart.
Her face was rapt and angel-sweet;
She touched his hair of grey;
But he, sob-shaken, at her feet,
Could only pray and pray.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EBEB AFAF GB GB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (30%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11111111 010101 11110101 111111 11011111 111011 01010101 110101 11100101 011101 11011101 111101 0101101 111101 11111111 011101 01110101 111111 11110101 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 674 |
Words | 125 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 2 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 78 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 20 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 36 Views
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