Analysis of A Question
Francis Thompson 1859 (City of Preston, Lancashire) – 1907 (London)
O bird with heart of wassail,
That toss the Bacchic branch,
And slip your shaken music,
An elfin avalanche;
Come tell me, O tell me,
My poet of the blue!
What's YOUR thought of me, Sweet?--
Here's MY thought of you.
A small thing, a wee thing,
A brown fleck of nought;
With winging and singing
That who could have thought?
A small thing, a wee thing,
A brown amaze withal,
That fly a pitch more azure
Because you're so small.
Bird, I'm a small thing--
My angel descries;
With winging and singing
That who could surmise?
Ah, small things, ah, wee things,
Are the poets all,
Whose tour's the more azure
Because they're so small.
The angels hang watching
The tiny men-things:-
'The dear speck of flesh, see,
With such daring wings!
'Come, tell us, O tell us,
Thou strange mortality!
What's THY thought of us, Dear?--
Here's OUR thought of thee.'
'Alack! you tall angels,
I can't think so high!
I can't think what it feels like
Not to be I.'
Come tell me, O tell me,
My poet of the blue!
What's YOUR thought of me, Sweet?--
Here's MY thought of you.
Scheme | abxb CADE FdFx Faga fhFh haga fhch hcxc hixi CADE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 111111 11011 0111010 11010 111111 110101 111111 11111 011011 01111 110010 11111 011011 01011 1101110 01111 11011 1101 110010 11101 111111 10101 110110 01111 010110 01011 011111 11101 111111 110100 111111 110111 11110 11111 1111111 1111 111111 110101 111111 11111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,014 |
Words | 203 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 19 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 78 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 20 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 63 Views
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"A Question" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/13882/a-question>.
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