Analysis of The Sigh

Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 (Ottery St Mary) – 1834 (Highgate)



I.
When youth his fairy reign began,
Ere sorrow had proclaimed me man;
While peace the present hour beguiled,
And all the lovely prospect smiled;
Then, Mary! 'mid my lightsome glee
I heaved the painless sigh for thee.

II.
And when, as tossed on waves of woe,
My harassed heart was doomed to know
The frantic burst, the outrage keen,
And the slow pang that gnaws unseen;
Then shipwrecked on life's stormy sea,
I heaved an anguish'd sigh for thee!

III.
But soon reflection's power imprest
A stiller sadness on my breast;
And sickly hope with waning eye
Was well content to droop and die:
I yielded to the stern decree,
Yet heaved a languid sigh for thee!

IV.
And tho' in distant climes to roam,
A wanderer from my native home,
I feign would soothe the sense of care
And lull to sleep the joys, that were!
Thy image may not banished be--
Still, Mary! still I sigh for thee.


Scheme ABBCCDD AEEFFDD ACXAADD XGGXXDD
Poetic Form
Metre 1 11110101 11010111 110101001 01010101 1101111 11010111 1 01111111 10111111 0101011 00111101 1111101 11110111 1 111101 01010111 01011101 11101101 11010101 11010111 1 01010111 010011101 11110111 01110110 11011101 11011111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 852
Words 163
Sentences 12
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 7, 7, 7, 7
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 169
Words per stanza (avg) 40
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 01, 2023

49 sec read
121

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. more…

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