Analysis of Summer in England, 1914
Alice Meynell 1847 (London) – 1922
On London fell a clearer light;
Caressing pencils of the sun
Defined the distances, the white
Houses transfigured one by one,
The 'long, unlovely street' impearled.
O what a sky has walked the world!
Most happy year! And out of town
The hay was prosperous, and the wheat;
The silken harvest climbed the down:
Moon after moon was heavenly-sweet,
Stroking the bread within the sheaves,
Looking 'twixt apples and their leaves.
And while this rose made round her cup,
The armies died convulsed. And when
This chaste young silver sun went up
Softly, a thousand shattered men,
One wet corruption, heaped the plain,
After a league-long throb of pain.
Flower following tender flower; and birds,
And berries; and benignant skies
Made thrive the serried flocks and herds. --
Yonder are men shot through the eyes.
Love, hide thy face
From man's unpardonable race.
Who said 'No man hath greater love than this,
To die to serve his friend'?
So these have loved us all unto the end.
Chide thou no more, O thou unsacrificed!
The soldier dying dies upon a kiss,
The very kiss of Christ.
Scheme | ABABAX CDCDEE FGFGHH IJIJKK LMMALX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (27%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11010101 01010101 01010001 101111 01111 11011101 11010111 011100001 01010101 110111001 10010101 10110011 01111101 0101101 11110111 10010101 11010101 10011111 10100101001 010011 1101101 10111101 1111 1111 1111110111 111111 1111111001 1111111 0101010101 010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,049 |
Words | 188 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 168 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 37 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 09, 2023
- 56 sec read
- 89 Views
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"Summer in England, 1914" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1547/summer-in-england%2C-1914>.
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