Analysis of A Child’s Smile
Dinah Maria Mulock Craik 1826 (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire) – 1887 (Shortlands, London)
A CHILD'S smile--nothing more;
Quiet, and soft, and grave, and seldom seen;
Like summer lightning o'er,
Leaving the little face again serene.
I think, boy well-beloved,
Thine angel, who did grieve to see how far
Thy childhood is removed
From sports that dear to other children are,
On this pale cheek has thrown
The brightness of his countenance, and made
A beauty like his own--
That, while we see it, we are half afraid,
And marvel, will it stay?
Or, long ere manhood, will that angel fair,
Departing some sad day,
Steal the child-smile and leave the shadow care?
Nay, fear not. As is given
Unto this child the father watching o'er,
His angel up in heaven
Beholds Our Father's face for evermore.
And he will help him bear
His burthen, as his father helps him now:
So may he come to wear
That happy child-smile on an old man's brow.
Scheme | ABCB XDXD EFEF GHGH ICIA HJHJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (83%) |
Metre | 011101 1001010101 1101010 1001010101 111101 1101111111 11101 1111110101 111111 0101110001 010111 1111111101 010111 111111101 010111 101101011 1111110 10110101010 1101010 110101110 011111 111110111 111111 1101111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 841 |
Words | 153 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 107 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 16, 2023
- 47 sec read
- 92 Views
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"A Child’s Smile" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7959/a-child%E2%80%99s-smile>.
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