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Ave Maria Gratia Plena by Oscar Wilde

Analysis

"Ave Maria Gratia Plena" is a poem written by Oscar Wilde. For this poem, it's important to know that "Ave Maria Gratia Plena" is latin for "Hail Mary Full of Grace", the first words of a Catholic prayer that asks the blessed mother of Jesus to pray for us sinners. This poem is directed to Florence, his first love. He is calling her an angel and asking if Jesus sent her to him.

"Ave Maria Gratia Plena" consists of only one stanza made up of fourteen lines. It is rhymed as ABBACDDCEFGEFG and is written in iambic-pentameter. Due to its rhyme scheme and meters, it is considered an Italian Sonnet.

Poem

Ave Maria Gratia Plena
By 

Was this His coming! I had hoped to see
A scene of wondrous glory, as was told
Of some great God who in a rain of gold
Broke open bars and fell on Danae:
Or a dread vision as when Semele
Sickening for love and unappeased desire
Prayed to see God's clear body, and the fire
Caught her brown limbs and slew her utterly:
With such glad dreams I sought this holy place,
And now with wondering eyes and heart I stand
Before this supreme mystery of Love:
Some kneeling girl with passionless pale face,
An angel with a lily in his hand,
And over both the white wings of a Dove.

FLORENCE

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