Analysis of Midsummer
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
After the May time and after the June time
Rare with blossoms and perfume sweet,
Cometh the round world's royal noon time,
The red midsummer of blazing heat,
When the sun, like an eye that never closes,
Bends on the earth its fervid gaze,
And the winds are still, and the crimson roses
Droop and wither and die in its rays.
Unto my heart has come this season,
O, my lady, my worshiped one,
When, over the stars of Pride and Reason,
Sails Love's cloudless, noonday sun.
Like a great red ball in my bosom burning
With fires that nothing can quench or tame,
It glows till my heart itself seems turning
Into a liquid lake of flame.
The hopes half shy and the sighs all tender,
The dreams and fears of an earlier day,
Under the noontide's royal splendor,
Droop like roses, and wither away.
From the hills of Doubt no winds are blowing,
From the isles of Pain no breeze is sent, -
Only the sun in a white heat glowing
Over an ocean of great content.
Sink, O my soul, in this golden glory!
Die, O my heart, in thy rapture-swoon!
For the Autumn must come with its mournful story.
And Love's midsummer will fade too soon.
Scheme | ABABCDCDEEEEFGFGHIHIFJFJKLKL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10011010011 11100011 100111011 011101101 10111111010 11011101 00111001010 101001011 101111110 11101101 1100111010 111011 10111011010 1101101111 1111101110 01010111 0111001110 0101111001 10011010 111001001 1011111110 101111111 1001001110 101101110 1111011010 111101101 101011111010 011101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,093 |
Words | 212 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 28 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 863 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 210 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:04 min read
- 47 Views
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"Midsummer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10709/midsummer>.
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