Analysis of On Jordan's Banks

George Gordon Lord Byron 1788 (London) – 1824 (Missolonghi, Aetolia)



On Jordan's banks the Arab's camels stray,
On Sion's hill the False One's votaries pray,
The Baal-adorer bows on Sinai's steep -
Yet there - even there - Oh God! thy thunders sleep:

There - where thy finger scorch'd the tablet stone!
There - where thy shadow to thy people shone!
Thy glory shrouded in its garb of fire:
Thyself - none living see and not expire!

Oh! in the lightning let thy glance appear;
Sweep from his shiver'd hand the oppressor's spear!
How long by tyrants shall thy land be trod?
How long thy temple worshipless, Oh God?


Scheme AABB CCXX DDEE
Poetic Form Quatrain  (67%)
Metre 110101101 11101111 0111111 11101111101 1111010101 111111101 11010011110 111010101 1001011101 111101011 1111011111 11110111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 550
Words 101
Sentences 9
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 138
Words per stanza (avg) 33
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
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George Gordon Lord Byron

George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, known simply as Lord Byron, was an English poet, peer and politician who became a revolutionary in the Greek War of Independence, and is considered one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement. He is regarded as one of the greatest English poets and remains widely read and influential. Among his best-known works are the lengthy narrative poems Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage; many of his shorter lyrics in Hebrew Melodies also became popular. He travelled extensively across Europe, especially in Italy, where he lived for seven years in the cities of Venice, Ravenna, and Pisa. During his stay in Italy he frequently visited his friend and fellow poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Later in life Byron joined the Greek War of Independence fighting the Ottoman Empire and died of disease leading a campaign during that war, for which Greeks revere him as a national hero. He died in 1824 at the age of 36 from a fever contracted after the First and Second Siege of Missolonghi. His only legitimate child, Ada Lovelace, is regarded as a foundational figure in the field of computer programming based on her notes for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. Byron's illegitimate children include Allegra Byron, who died in childhood, and possibly Elizabeth Medora Leigh.  more…

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