Analysis of The Oriental Nosegay. By Pickersgill
Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 (Chelsea) – 1838 (Cape Coast)
THROUGH the light curtains came the perfumed air,
And flung them back and show'd a garden, where
The eye could just catch glimpses of those trees
Which send sweet messages upon the breeze
To lull a maiden's sleep, and fan her cheek,
When inward thoughts in outward blushes speak.
Bequeath's a silken couch, just fit to be
A snowy shrine for some fair deity;
And there a beauty rests, lovely as those
Enchanted visions haunting the repose
Of the young poet, when his eyelids shut
To dream that love they have but dream'd as yet;--
But dream'd! Alas, that love should ever be
A happiness but made for phantasie!
And flowers are by her side, and her dark eye
Seems as it read in them her destiny.
She knew whose hand had gather'd them, she knew
Whose sigh and touch were on their scent and hue.
Beautiful language! Love's peculiar, own,
But only to the spring and summer known.
Ah! little marvel in such clime and age
As that of our too earth-bound pilgrimage,
That we should daily hear that love is fled,
And hope grown pale, and lighted feelings dead.
Not for the cold, the careless to impart,
By such sweet signs, the silence of the heart:
But surely in the countries where the sun
Lights loveliness in all he shines upon,--
Where love is as a mystery and a dream,
One single flower upon life's troubled stream;
There, there, perchance, may the young bosom thrill,
Feeling and fancy linger with love still.
She look'd upon the blossoms, and a smile,
A twilight one, lit up her lip the while.
Surely her love is blest, no leaves are there
That aught of lover's misery declare.
True, 'mid them is that pale and pining flower,
Whose dim blue colour speaks an absent hour;
Yet it is nothing but that tender sorrow
Of those who part to-day to meet to-morrow:
For there are hope and constancy beside,
And are not these to happiness allied;
And yet upon that maiden's cheek is caught
A summer evening's shade of pensive thought,
As if these large soft eyes knew all their fate,
How the heart would its destiny create,--
At once too tender, and too passionate;--
Too made for happiness to be happy here,
An angel fetter'd to an earthly sphere.--
And those dark eyes, so large, so soft, so bright,
So clear as if their very tears were light;
They tell that destiny, art thou not one
To whom love will be like the summer sun
That feeds the diamond in the secret mine,
Then calls it from its solitude to shine,
And piece by piece be broken. Watch the bloom,
And mark its fading to an early tomb,
And read in the decay upon it stealing
Of thy own wasted hope and wither'd feeling,--
Ay, fitting messengers for love! as fair,
As quickly past as his own visions are;--
Fling, fling the flowers away!
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFXDBXDGG HHXXII JJKXLLMM NNAAOOPP QQXXRRFXXSSKKTTUUVVAXX |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011010011 0111010101 0111110111 1111000101 110110101 1101010101 101011111 0101111100 0101011011 0101010001 101101111 1111111111 1101111101 01001111 01011010011 1111010100 1111110111 1101011101 1001010101 1101010101 1101001101 11110111100 1111011111 0111010101 1101010101 1111010101 1100010101 11011101 11110100001 11010011101 1101101101 1001010111 1101010001 011110101 1001111111 1111010001 11111101010 1111111010 11110111010 11111111110 1111010001 0111110001 010111111 0101011101 1111111111 1011110001 1111001100 11110011101 1101011101 0111111111 1111110101 1111001111 1111110101 1101000101 111111011 0111110101 0111011101 01000101110 11110101010 1101001111 1101111101 1101001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,632 |
Words | 501 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 18, 6, 8, 8, 22 |
Lines Amount | 62 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 417 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 98 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:34 min read
- 49 Views
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"The Oriental Nosegay. By Pickersgill" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25718/the-oriental-nosegay.-by-pickersgill>.
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