Analysis of Home, Sweet Home
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper 1825 – 1911
Sharers of a common country,
They had met in deadly strife;
Men who should have been as brothers
Madly sought each other's life.
In the silence of the even,
When the cannon's lips were dumb,
Thoughts of home and all its loved ones
To the soldier's heart would come.
On the margin of a river,
'Mid the evening's dews and damps,
Could be heard the sounds of music
Rising from two hostile camps.
One was singing of its section
Down in Dixie, Dixie's land,
And the other of the banner
Waved so long from strand to strand.
In the land where Dixie's ensign
Floated o'er the hopeful slave,
Rose the song that freedom's banner,
Starry-lighted, long might wave.
From the fields of strife and carnage,
Gentle thoughts began to roam,
And a tender strain of music
Rose with words of "Home, Sweet Home."
Then the hearts of strong men melted,
For amid our grief and sin
Still remains that "touch of nature,"
Telling us we all are kin.
In one grand but gentle chorus,
Floating to the starry dome,
Came the words that brought them nearer,
Words that told of "Home, Sweet Home."
For awhile, all strife forgotten,
They were only brothers then,
Joining in the sweet old chorus,
Not as soldiers, but as men.
Men whose hearts would flow together,
Though apart their feet might roam,
Found a tie they could not sever,
In the mem'ry of each home.
Never may the steps of carnage
Shake our land from shore to shore,
But may mother, home and Heaven,
Be our watchwords evermore.
Scheme | XAXA BCXC DEFE GHDH GIDI JKFK XBDB LKDK GMLM DKDK JNGN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1101010 1110101 11111110 1011101 00101010 1010101 11101111 1010111 10101010 1010101 11101110 1011101 11101110 101011 00101010 1111111 0011110 10100101 10111010 1010111 10111010 1010111 00101110 1111111 10111110 10110101 10111110 1011111 01111010 1010101 10111110 1111111 10111010 1010101 10001110 1110111 11111010 1011111 10111110 001111 10101110 11011111 11101010 110110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,459 |
Words | 268 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 103 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:22 min read
- 74 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Home, Sweet Home" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/13722/home%2C-sweet-home>.
Discuss this Frances Ellen Watkins Harper poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In