Analysis of The Elder's Rebuke
Emily Jane Brontë 1818 (Thornton) – 1848 (Haworth)
'Listen! When your hair, like mine,
Takes a tint of silver gray;
When your eyes, with dimmer shine,
Watch life's bubbles float away:
When you, young man, have borne like me
The weary weight of sixty-three,
Then shall penance sore be paid
For those hours so wildly squandered;
And the words that now fall dead
On your ear, be deeply pondered—
Pondered and approved at last:
But their virtue will be past!
'Glorious is the prize of Duty,
Though she be 'a serious power';
Treacherous all the lures of Beauty,
Thorny bud and poisonous flower!
'Mirth is but a mad beguiling
Of the golden-gifted time;
Love—a demon-meteor, wiling
Heedless feet to gulfs of crime.
'Those who follow earthly pleasure,
Heavenly knowledge will not lead;
Wisdom hides from them her treasure,
Virtue bids them evil-speed!
'Vainly may their hearts repenting.
Seek for aid in future years;
Wisdom, scorned, knows no relenting;
Virtue is not won by fears.'
Thus spake the ice-blooded elder gray;
The young man scoffed as he turned away,
Turned to the call of a sweet lute's measure,
Waked by the lightsome touch of pleasure:
Had he ne'er met a gentler teacher,
Woe had been wrought by that pitiless preacher.
Scheme | ABAB CCXDEDFF CGCG HIHI GEGX HJHJ BBGGGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011111 1011101 1111101 1110101 11111111 01011101 1110111 111011010 0011111 11111010 1000111 1110111 100101110 111010010 100101110 101010010 11101010 1010101 101010010 111111 11101010 10010111 10111010 1011101 10111010 1110101 10111010 1011111 110110101 011111101 1101101110 11011110 111101010 11111110010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,163 |
Words | 204 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 6 |
Lines Amount | 34 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 132 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:01 min read
- 78 Views
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"The Elder's Rebuke" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/12538/the-elder%27s-rebuke>.
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