Analysis of Epilogue--To The Poet's Sitter
Francis Thompson 1859 (City of Preston, Lancashire) – 1907 (London)
Wherein he excuseth himself for the manner of the Portrait.
Alas! now wilt thou chide, and say (I deem),
My figured descant hides the simple theme:
Or in another wise reproving, say
I ill observe thine own high reticent way.
Oh, pardon, that I testify of thee
What thou couldst never speak, nor others be!
Yet (for the book is not more innocent
Of what the gazer's eyes makes so intent),
She will but smile, perhaps, that I find my fair
Sufficing scope in such strait theme as her.
'Bird of the sun! the stars' wild honey-bee!
Is your gold browsing done so thoroughly?
Or sinks a singed wing to narrow nest in me?'
(Thus she might say: for not this lowly vein
Out-deprecates her deprecating strain.)
Oh, you mistake, dear lady, quite; nor know
Ether was strict as you, its loftiness as low!
The heavens do not advance their majesty
Over their marge; beyond his empery
The ensigns of the wind are not unfurled,
His reign is hooped in by the pale o' the world.
'Tis not the continent, but the contained,
That pleasaunce makes or prison, loose or chained.
Too much alike or little captives me,
For all oppression is captivity.
What groweth to its height demands no higher;
The limit limits not, but the desire.
Give but my spirit its desired scope, -
A giant in a pismire, I not grope;
Deny it,--and an ant, with on my back
A firmament, the skiey vault will crack.
Our minds make their own Termini, nor call
The issuing circumscriptions great or small;
So high constructing Nature lessons to us all:
Who optics gives accommodate to see
Your countenance large as looks the sun to be,
And distant greatness less than near humanity.
We, therefore, with a sure instinctive mind,
An equal spaciousness of bondage find
In confines far or near, of air or our own kind.
Our looks and longings, which affront the stars,
Most richly bruised against their golden bars,
Delighted captives of their flaming spears,
Find a restraint restrainless which appears
As that is, and so simply natural,
In you;--the fair detention freedom call,
And overscroll with fancies the loved prison-wall.
Such sweet captivity, and only such,
In you, as in those golden bars, we touch!
Our gazes for sufficing limits know
The firmament above, your face below;
Our longings are contented with the skies,
Contented with the heaven, and your eyes.
My restless wings, that beat the whole world through,
Flag on the confines of the sun and you;
And find the human pale remoter of the two.
Scheme | X AABBCC XXDECCCFFGG CDHHIICCEEJJKKLLLCCC MMMNNOOXLL PPGGQQRRR |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01110110101010 0111110111 110110101 10010111 11011111001 110111011 1111011101 1101111100 110111101 11110111111 11011110 1101011101 1111011100 11011110101 1111111101 11001001 1101110111 1011111111 01011011100 10110111 011011101 11110101101 1101001001 111110111 1101110101 1101010100 1111101110 01010110010 1111010101 010001111 0110111111 0101111 1011111011 01001111 110101010111 110101011 11001110111 010101110100 111010101 11011101 011111111011 10101010101 1101011101 0101011101 10011101 1110110100 0101010101 0111001101 1101000101 0110110111 101011101 01011101 10101010101 0101010011 1101110111 110110101 0101011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,400 |
Words | 438 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 6, 11, 20, 10, 9 |
Lines Amount | 57 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 320 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 72 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 2:11 min read
- 44 Views
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"Epilogue--To The Poet's Sitter" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/13905/epilogue--to-the-poet%27s-sitter>.
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