Analysis of The Piper
Francis William Bourdillon 1852 (Runcorn) – 1921
The dews were on the hedges,
The mist was on the mead,
When down among the sedges
I wrought my pipe of reed.
I blew my pipe with power.
Men only cursed the sound
That woke them when the hour
Brought back their labor’s round.
The scythe was in the barley,
The sickle in the wheat;
The pipe I made so early
Had lost its tones so sweet.
And weary man and maiden,
Upon the glowing soil,
My reed-pipe fell upbraiding
That lightened not their toil.
The men had left their mowing,
The maids to bind the sheaves;
I took me for my blowing
A wheatstraw stripped of leaves.
And cares all ceased to cumber,
No voice was now upraised;
I piped them all to slumber,
And in their dreams was praised.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFXGHG HIHICBCX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101010 011101 110101 111111 1111110 110101 1111010 111101 0110010 010001 0111110 111111 0101010 010101 11111 110111 0111110 011101 1111110 01111 0111110 11111 1111110 001111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 670 |
Words | 134 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 177 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 44 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 40 sec read
- 82 Views
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"The Piper" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/13980/the-piper>.
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