Analysis of The Song my Paddle Sings
Emily Pauline Johnson 1861 – 1913
West wind, blow from your prairie nest,
Blow from the mountains, blow from the west
The sail is idle, the sailor too ;
O! wind of the west, we wait for you.
Blow, blow!
I have wooed you so,
But never a favour you bestow.
You rock your cradle the hills between,
But scorn to notice my white lateen.
I stow the sail, unship the mast :
I wooed you long but my wooing's past ;
My paddle will lull you into rest.
O! drowsy wind of the drowsy west,
Sleep, sleep,
By your mountain steep,
Or down where the prairie grasses sweep!
Now fold in slumber your laggard wings,
For soft is the song my paddle sings.
August is laughing across the sky,
Laughing while paddle, canoe and I,
Drift, drift,
Where the hills uplift
On either side of the current swift.
The river rolls in its rocky bed ;
My paddle is plying its way ahead ;
Dip, dip,
While the water flip
In foam as over their breast we slip.
And oh, the river runs swifter now ;
The eddies circle about my bow.
Swirl, swirl!
How the ripples curl
In many a dangerous pool awhirl!
And forward far the rapids roar,
Fretting their margin for evermore.
Dash, dash,
With a mighty crash,
They seethe, and boil, and bound, and splash.
Be strong, O paddle! be brave, canoe!
The reckless waves you must plunge into.
Reel, reel.
On your trembling keel,
But never a fear my craft will feel.
We've raced the rapid, we're far ahead!
The river slips through its silent bed.
Sway, sway,
As the bubbles spray
And fall in tinkling tunes away.
And up on the hills against the sky,
A fir tree rocking its lullaby,
Swings, swings,
Its emerald wings,
Swelling the song that my paddle sings.
Scheme | AABBCCCDDEEAAFFFGGHHIIIJJKKKLLMMCNNOOOBBPPPJJQQQHHGGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111101 110101101 011100101 111011111 11 11111 11001101 111100101 11110111 1101101 11111111 110111011 110110101 11 11101 111010101 110101101 111011101 101100101 101100101 11 10110 110110101 010101101 1101101101 11 10101 011101111 010101101 010100111 11 10101 010010011 01010101 10110110 11 10101 11010101 111101101 010111101 11 111001 110011111 110101101 010111101 11 10101 010100101 011010101 01110110 11 1101 100111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,567 |
Words | 300 |
Sentences | 26 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 53 |
Lines Amount | 53 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,232 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 304 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 26, 2023
- 1:30 min read
- 948 Views
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"The Song my Paddle Sings" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/12637/the-song-my-paddle-sings>.
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