Analysis of The Power Of Song
Friedrich Schiller 1759 (Marbach am Neckar) – 1805 (Weimar)
The foaming stream from out the rock
With thunder roar begins to rush,--
The oak falls prostrate at the shock,
And mountain-wrecks attend the gush.
With rapturous awe, in wonder lost,
The wanderer hearkens to the sound;
From cliff to cliff he hears it tossed,
Yet knows not whither it is bound:
'Tis thus that song's bright waters pour
From sources never known before.
In union with those dreaded ones
That spin life's thread all-silently,
Who can resist the singer's tones?
Who from his magic set him free?
With wand like that the gods bestow,
He guides the heaving bosom's chords,
He steeps it in the realms below,
He bears it, wondering, heavenward,
And rocks it, 'twixt the grave and gay,
On feeling's scales that trembling sway.
As when before the startled eyes
Of some glad throng, mysteriously,
With giant-step, in spirit-guise,
Appears a wondrous deity,
Then bows each greatness of the earth
Before the stranger heaven-born,
Mute are the thoughtless sounds of mirth,
While from each face the mask is torn,
And from the truth's triumphant might
Each work of falsehood takes to flight.
So from each idle burden free,
When summoned by the voice of song,
Man soars to spirit-dignity,
Receiving force divinely strong:
Among the gods is now his home,
Naught earthly ventures to approach--
All other powers must now be dumb,
No fate can on his realms encroach;
Care's gloomy wrinkles disappear,
Whilst music's charms still linger here,
As after long and hopeless yearning,
And separation's bitter smart,
A child, with tears repentant burning,
Clings fondly to his mother's heart--
So to his youthful happy dwelling,
To rapture pure and free from stain,
All strange and false conceits expelling,
Song guides the wanderer back again,
In faithful Nature's loving arm,
From chilling precepts to grow warm.
Scheme | ABABCDCDEE XFXFGXGCHH IFIFJKJKLL FMFMXNXNXX OPOPOXOXXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (28%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 01011101 11010111 01110101 01010101 110010101 010010101 11111111 11110111 11111101 11010101 01011101 11111100 11010101 11110111 11110101 1101011 11100101 1111001 01110101 11111001 11010101 11111000 11010101 01010100 11110101 01010101 11010111 11110111 01010101 1111111 11110101 11010111 11110100 01010101 01011111 11010101 110101111 11111101 1101001 11011101 110101010 01101 011101010 11011101 111101010 11010111 11011010 110100101 01010101 1101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,997 |
Words | 303 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 10, 10, 10, 10 |
Lines Amount | 50 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 286 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 60 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:34 min read
- 40 Views
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"The Power Of Song" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/14419/the-power-of-song>.
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