Poem+Structure

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Poetic Structure
The poem is a sonnet, a type of poem with fourteen lines of rhymed iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is that of a Shakespearean sonnet, with three quatrains and a couplet.

Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain; Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink And rise and sink and rise and sink again; Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath, Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone; Yet many a man is making friends with death Even as I speak, for lack of love alone. It well may be that in a difficult hour, Pinned down by pain and moaning for release, or nagged by want past resolutions power, I might be driven to sell your love for peace, Or trade the memory of this night for food. It may well be. I do not think I would. || a b a b c d c d e f e f g g ||
 * Original Poem || Rhyme ||
 * Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink

The sonnet utilizes both the Shakespearean and Petrarchan sonnet forms. As previously noted, "Love Is Not All" uses the rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet. However, the turn in "Love Is Not All" does not take place between the twelfth and thirteenth lines as it would in a Shakespearean sonnet. Instead, the turn occurs after the octave, which is a characteristic of Petrarchan sonnets. Therefore, "Love Is Not All" is split into two topics similar to a Petrarchan sonnet. The octave (first eight lines) broadly introduces the idea that love is not everything. The sestet (last six lines) focuses on the speaker's opinion of love. Another turn occurs at the last line, when the speaker says "I do not think I would."