Analysis of Moorish Bridal Song

Felicia Dorothea Hemans 1793 (Liverpool, Lancashire) – 1835 (Dublin, County Dublin)



The citron groves their fruit and flowers were strewing
Around a Moorish palace, while the sigh
Of low sweet summer-winds, the branches wooing,
With music through their shadowy bowers went by;
Music and voices, from the marble halls,
Through the leaves gleaming, and the fountain-falls.

A song of joy, a bridal song came swelling,
To blend with fragrance in those southern shades,
And told of feasts within the stately dwelling,
Bright lamps, and dancing steps, and gem-crown'd maids;
And thus it flow'd;-yet something in the lay
Belong'd to sadness, as it died away.

'The bride comes forth! her tears no more are falling
To leave the chamber of her infant years;
Kind voices from distant home are calling;
She comes like day-spring-she hath done with tears;
Now must her dark eye shine on other flowers,
Her soft smile gladden other hearts than ours!
-Pour the rich odours round!

'We haste! the chosen and the lovely bringing;
Love still goes with her from her place of birth;
Deep silent joy within her soul is springing,
Though in her glance the light no more is mirth!
Her beauty leaves us in its rosy years;
Her sisters weep-but she hath done with tears!
-Now may the timbrel sound!'

Know'st thou for whom they sang the bridal numbers?
-One, whose rich tresses were to wave no more!
One, whose pale cheek soft winds, nor gentle slumbers,
Nor Love's own sigh, to rose-tints might restore!
Her graceful ringlets o'er a bier were spread.-
-Weep for the young, the beautiful,-the dead!


Scheme ABABCC ADADEE AFAGHHI AJAJFGI HKCKLL
Poetic Form
Metre 01011101001 0101010101 11110101010 110111001011 1001010101 1011000101 01110101110 1111001101 01110101010 1101010111 0111110001 0111011101 01110111110 1101010101 1101101110 1111111111 11011111010 01110101110 10111 11010001010 1111010111 11010101110 1001011111 0101101101 0101111111 11011 111111101010 1111001111 1111111101 1111111101 0101100101 1101010001
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,463
Words 261
Sentences 15
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 7, 7, 6
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 233
Words per stanza (avg) 51
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:19 min read
65

Felicia Dorothea Hemans

Felicia Dorothea Hemans was an English poet. Two of her opening lines, "The boy stood on the burning deck" and "The stately homes of England", have acquired classic status. more…

All Felicia Dorothea Hemans poems | Felicia Dorothea Hemans Books

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