ONE DAY I WROTE HER NAME UPON THE STRAND.

Just considering the title the reader expects the poem will be about a record of a memory. In addition the reader understands that the speaking voice is the first person and the situation is set in the past. The poem is addressed to a lady because there is the possessive adjective “her”.

The poem is a sonnet. It consists of 14 lines that are organized into three quatrains and a final couplet. In the first quatrain the poet remembers that one day he wrote the name of the lady upon the strand but suddenly the waves washed it, so it tried to write it again. Right from the waves, the sea, the image is something that doesn’t last. This thesis is supported by the repetition of the sound “ei”. It is a long sound that suggests the ides of vast and distance. In addition there is a parallelism between his actions and the syntax. The use of the alliterative sound of “m” suggests the idea of sorrow and the sound “p” suggests something difficult. The semantic feels is the sea: it creates an image of transformation.

In the second quatrain another character is introduced, indeed, the lady is speaking. She says that the man is vane because he tried to immortalize something mortal: his life. In this quatrain there are both alliteration (v sound) and assonance (ei sound). In the second quatrain there are comma, colon that straight the attention of the reader.

In the third quatrain there is the answer of the man. He says that he wouldn’t immortalize her life but he wants to immortalize the remember of the lady with verse, because written things remain forever. Also in this quatrain there are long open sounds that reminds to the eternity, something that last.

In the last stanza, the couplet, there is the conclusion and the poet explained why he wants to write in verse. Indeed it is explained that his love will live when death will conquer the world thanks to poetry.