Analysis of An Old Sweetheart Of Mine
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
As one who cons at evening o'er an album all alone,
And muses on the faces of the friends that he has known,
So I turn the leaves of Fancy, till in shadowy design
I find the smiling features of an old sweetheart of mine.
The lamplight seems to glimmer with a flicker of surprise,
As I turn it low, to rest me of the dazzle in my eyes,
And light my pipe in silence, save a sigh that seems to yoke
Its fate with my tobacco, and to vanish with the smoke.
'Tis a fragrant retrospection, for the loving thoughts that start
Into being are like perfumes from the blossom of the heart;
And to dream the old dreams over is a luxury divine—
When my truant fancies wander with that old sweetheart of mine.
Though I hear, beneath my study, like a fluttering of wings,
The voices of my children and the mother as she sings,
I feel no twinge of conscience to deny me any theme
When Care has cast her anchor in the harbor of a dream.
In fact, to speak in earnest, I believe it adds a charm
To spice the good a trifle with a little dust of harm;
For I find an extra flavor in Memory's mellow wine
That makes me drink the deeper to that old sweetheart of mine.
A face of lily-beauty, with a form of airy grace,
Floats out of my tobacco as the genii from the vase;
And I thrill beneath the glances of a pair of azure eyes,
As glowing as the summer and as tender as the skies.
I can see the pink sunbonnet and the little checkered dress
She wore when first I kissed her, and she answered the caress
With the written declaration that, 'as surely as the vine
Grew round the stump,' she loved me,—that old sweetheart of mine!
And again I feel the pressure of her slender little hand,
As we used to talk together of the future we had planned:
When I should be a poet, and with nothing else to do
But write the tender verses that she set the music to;
When we should live together in a cozy little cot,
Hid in a nest of roses, with a fairy garden-spot,
Where the vines were ever fruited, and the weather ever fine,
And the birds were ever singing for that old sweetheart of mine;
And I should be her lover forever and a day,
And she my faithful sweetheart till the golden hair was gray;
And we should be so happy that when either's lips were dumb
They would not smile in heaven till the other's kiss had come.
But ah! my dream is broken by a step upon the stair,
And the door is softly opened, and my wife is standing there!
Yet with eagerness and rapture all my visions I resign
To greet the living presence of that old sweetheart of mine.
Scheme | AABB CCDD EEBB FFGG HHBB IICC JJBB KKLL MMBB NNOO PPBB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 111111010110101 01010101011111 111011101010001 1101010111111 0111101010101 111111111010011 01110101011111 1111010110101 101011010111 011011011010101 011011101010001 11101010111111 111011101010011 01011100010111 11111101011101 11110100010101 01110101011101 11010101010111 1111101001101 1111010111111 01110101011101 111101101101 011010101011101 11010100110101 1110110010101 11111100110001 10100101110101 110111111111 001110101010101 111110101010111 11110100110111 11010101110101 11110100010101 10011101010101 10101010010101 00101010111111 0111010010001 0111011010111 0111110111101 11110101010111 11111101010101 001110100111101 111000101110101 1101010111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 2,485 |
Words | 498 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 45 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 178 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 45 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 2:30 min read
- 153 Views
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