Analysis of Casabianca
Felicia Dorothea Hemans 1793 (Liverpool, Lancashire) – 1835 (Dublin, County Dublin)
The boy stood on the burning deck
Whence all but he had fled;
The flame that lit the battle's wreck
Shone round him o'er the dead.
Yet beautiful and bright he stood,
As born to rule the storm;
A creature of heroic blood,
A proud, though childlike form.
The flames roll'd on—he would not go
Without his Father's word;
That Father, faint in death below,
His voice no longer heard.
He called aloud:—"Say, Father, say
If yet my task is done?"
He knew not that the chieftain lay
Unconscious of his son.
"Speak, Father!" once again he cried
"If I may yet be gone!
And"—but the booming shots replied,
And fast the flames rolled on.
Upon his brow he felt their breath,
And in his waving hair,
And looked from that lone post of death,
In still, yet brave despair;
And shouted but one more aloud,
"My Father, must I stay?"
While o'er him fast, through sail and shroud
The wreathing fires made way,
They wrapt the ship in splendour wild,
They caught the flag on high,
And streamed above the gallant child,
Like banners in the sky.
There came a burst of thunder sound—
The boy—oh! where was he?
Ask of the winds that far around
With fragments strewed the sea!
With mast, and helm, and pennon fair,
That well had borne their part—
But the noblest thing which perished there
Was that young faithful heart!
Scheme | ABAB XCXC DEDE FGFG HXHX IJIJ KFKF LMLM NONO JPJP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (90%) Etheree (30%) |
Metre | 01110101 111111 01110101 1111001 11000111 111101 01010101 01111 01111111 011101 11010101 111101 11011101 111111 11110101 10111 11010111 111111 01010101 010111 01111111 001101 01111111 011101 01011101 110111 110111101 011011 1101011 110111 01010101 110001 11011101 011111 11011101 110101 1101011 111111 101011101 111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,340 |
Words | 246 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 103 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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"Casabianca" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/13487/casabianca>.
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