Analysis of An Exile's Farewell
Adam Lindsay Gordon 1833 – 1870
The ocean heaves around us still
With long and measured swell,
The autumn gales our canvas fill,
Our ship rides smooth and well.
The broad Atlantic's bed of foam
Still breaks against our prow;
I shed no tears at quitting home,
Nor will I shed them now!
Against the bulwarks on the poop
I lean, and watch the sun
Behind the red horizon stoop —
His race is nearly run.
Those waves will never quench his light,
O'er which they seem to close,
To-morrow he will rise as bright
As he this morning rose.
How brightly gleams the orb of day
Across the trackless sea!
How lightly dance the waves that play
Like dolphins in our lee!
The restless waters seem to say,
In smothered tones to me,
How many thousand miles away
My native land must be!
Speak, Ocean! is my Home the same
Now all is new to me? —
The tropic sky's resplendent flame,
The vast expanse of sea?
Does all around her, yet unchanged,
The well-known aspect wear?
Oh! can the leagues that I have ranged
Have made no difference there?
How vivid Recollection's hand
Recalls the scene once more!
I see the same tall poplars stand
Beside the garden door;
I see the bird-cage hanging still;
And where my sister set
The flowers in the window-sill —
Can they be living yet?
Let woman's nature cherish grief,
I rarely heave a sigh
Before emotion takes relief
In listless apathy;
While from my pipe the vapours curl
Towards the evening sky,
And 'neath my feet the billows whirl
In dull monotony!
The sky still wears the crimson streak
Of Sol's departing ray,
Some briny drops are on my cheek,
'Tis but the salt sea spray!
Then let our barque the ocean roam,
Our keel the billows plough;
I shed no tears at quitting home,
Nor will I shed them now!
Adam Lindsay Gordon
Scheme | ababcdCD efefgxgx hihihihi jijiklkl mnmnaoao pqpirqri shshcdCD f |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01010111 110101 010110101 1011101 01010111 1101101 11111101 111111 0101101 110101 01010101 111101 11110111 1011111 11011111 111101 11010111 01011 11010111 1100101 01010111 010111 11010101 110111 11011101 111111 01010101 010111 11010101 01111 11011111 1111001 11011 10111 1101111 010101 11011101 011101 01000101 111101 11010101 110101 01010101 010100 1111011 010101 01110101 010100 01110101 110101 1111111 110111 111010101 1010101 11111101 111111 101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,670 |
Words | 319 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 1 |
Lines Amount | 57 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 167 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:37 min read
- 111 Views
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"An Exile's Farewell" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/139/an-exile%27s-farewell>.
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