Analysis of The Song Of Gracia
George Essex Evans 1863 (London) – 1909 (Toowoomba)
Across the street, across the grass,
Across my life I watch her pass.
No pure star on a dusky height
Hath eyes more bright,
No lily on her emerald bed
A statelier head,
No dewdrop on the beaded thorn
More radiantly doth glow apart!
O, she doth shine all these to scorn
Fair are they all—star, flower, and dew;
She is the green bud breaking thro’
The winter of my heart.
Two violets, seeking Paradise,
Have hid themselves within her eyes.
Her lips are roses. She doth wear
A sunbeam woven in her hair.
And of the foam-flake of the sea
Her cheek and neck and bosom be.
And like a reed the low wind sways
Her slender figure glides along,
Serenely tall and fairy sweet
In this, the springtide of her days.
And O, to make my life a song
And lay it at her feet!
And now the world recedes. Time, Space, are fleeting.
All things but thee, O Love, have ceased to be.
Here where thy heart against my heart is beating,
And like a charm thy white arms compass me;
And on thy blue-veined breasts my head is lying,
And all about my face is blown thy hair.
Here let Love speak his full heart in sweet sighing,
For speech were powerless now to voice his prayer.
Softly thy breath, like scent of violets blowing,
Steals o’er my cheek with slow, delicious pain.
Drink whilst thou canst the goblet crowned and flowing,
For hours like these will never come again.
There is no bud of Spring about this forest,
And in our hearts, too, are the autumn leaves.
Where are the wings, O Love, on which thou soarest?
Meeter art thou to toil and bind the sheaves.
But there is mellower light upon our faces,
Thro’ all our veins the steadier currents flow
The statelier charms remain and friendly graces,
Tho’ dull and fitful wanes love’s lava-glow.
The slow bell tolls across the square:
She doth not hear its rise and swell.
The frosts of age have silvered there
The clusters of her sun-gold hair:
She sleepeth well.
Strange city echoes here are sent
Of reckless strife for prize and place,
Of hearts with warring passions rent,
But Death’s ineffable content
Is on her face—
A touch, a joy, a something there
That for my sake hath never shone;
Too well I deem in my despair
Her fairest dream I may not share,
And she is gone
Beyond these days of care and ruth
To those fair stars which poets sing,
Where grows the tree of fadeless Truth
In gardens of Immortal Youth,
Eternal Spring.
Scheme | AABBCCDEDXFEXXFFGGHIJHIJ KGKGKFKFKXKX XLBLXMXM FNFFNOPOOP FXFFX QKQQK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01010101 01111101 1111011 1111 11010101 011 1110101 111101 11111111 111111001 11011101 010111 11001010 11010101 01110111 0110001 01011101 01010101 01010111 01010101 010010101 0101101 01111101 011101 01010111110 1111111111 11110111110 0101111101 01111111110 0101111111 11111110110 11010011111 101111110010 1111110101 11110101010 11011110101 11111101110 00101110101 1101111111 111110101 11111011010 111010100101 0110101010 1101011101 01110101 11111101 0111111 01010111 111 11010111 11011101 11110101 11010010 1101 01010101 11111101 11110101 01011111 0111 01111101 11111101 1101111 01010101 0101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,346 |
Words | 445 |
Sentences | 24 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 24, 12, 8, 10, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 306 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 73 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:13 min read
- 50 Views
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"The Song Of Gracia" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/14986/the-song-of-gracia>.
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