Analysis of And love has changed to kindliness
Rupert Brooke 1887 (Rugby) – 1915 (Aegean Sea)
When love has changed to kindliness --
Oh, love, our hungry lips, that press
So tight that Time's an old god's dream
Nodding in heaven, and whisper stuff
Seven million years were not enough
To think on after, make it seem
Less than the breath of children playing,
A blasphemy scarce worth the saying,
A sorry jest, "When love has grown
To kindliness -- to kindliness!" . . .
And yet -- the best that either's known
Will change, and wither, and be less,
At last, than comfort, or its own
Remembrance. And when some caress
Tendered in habit (once a flame
All heaven sang out to) wakes the shame
Unworded, in the steady eyes
We'll have, -- that day, what shall we do?
Being so noble, kill the two
Who've reached their second-best? Being wise,
Break cleanly off, and get away.
Follow down other windier skies
New lures, alone? Or shall we stay,
Since this is all we've known, content
In the lean twilight of such day,
And not remember, not lament?
That time when all is over, and
Hand never flinches, brushing hand;
And blood lies quiet, for all you're near;
And it's but spoken words we hear,
Where trumpets sang; when the mere skies
Are stranger and nobler than your eyes;
And flesh is flesh, was flame before;
And infinite hungers leap no more
In the chance swaying of your dress;
And love has changed to kindliness.
Scheme | AABCCBDDEAEAEAFFAGGAHAHIHIJKLMAANNAA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111 111010111 11111111 100100101 101010101 11110111 110111010 010011010 01011111 1111 0101111 11010011 11110111 01001101 10010101 110111101 100101 11111111 10110101 011101101 11010101 1011011 11011111 11111110 0011111 01010101 11111100 1101101 011101111 01110111 11011011 110010111 01111101 01001111 00110111 011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,288 |
Words | 240 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 36 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,009 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 240 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 1:14 min read
- 119 Views
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"And love has changed to kindliness" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33657/and-love-has-changed-to-kindliness>.
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