Analysis of To The King Of Macedonia
George Moses Horton 1779 (North Carolina) – 1883
Thou may'st with pleasure hail the dawn,
And greet the morning's eye;
Remember, king, the night comes on,
The fleeting day will soon be gone,
Not distant, loud proclaims the funeral tone,
Phillip, thou hast to die.
With thee thy dame, the queen of birds,
May spread her wing to fly;
Or smile to trace the numerous herds,
Thunders from the Lord of lords,
I hear some peal surpassing human words,
Philip, thou hast to die.
Thou mayst thy mighty host survey
And neighboring kings defy,
Whilst round thy retinues flit gay,
Beneath thy pomp's imperial ray,
Make merry on the tide of joy to day,
To-morrow thou shalt die.
I heave to hear the day's last peal,
A sorrow teeming sigh;
The morning's flutt'ring bird has flown,
The roses fade, so quickly blown,
The lofty king falls robeless from his throne,
Philip was born to die.
'Twas thus the haughty king of France
Strove to ascend on high;
Lifting his adamantine lance,
He bade his dauntless war-horse prance,
Defied the world, and rode the car of chance,
To rage, to fume and die.
Thus vile, thus obstinately vain,
He pours his distant brag,
Regardless of his millions slain,
Regales his pale surviving train,
Was but wraped in his infernal chain,
Dies on the ocean crag.
This faithful lesson read to all
Creation, far and nigh,
It is the fate, from Adam's fall,
The swain, the king, the low, and tall,
The watchman of the grave must give the call,
Mortal, thou hast to die.
Scheme | ABXACB DBDXDB EBEEEB XBCCCB FBFFFB GHGGGH IBIIIB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111110101 010101 01010111 01011111 11010101001 101111 11110111 110111 111101001 1010111 1111010101 101111 11110101 0100101 111111 011101001 1101011111 110111 11110111 010101 0101111 01011101 010111111 101111 11010111 110111 10111 1111111 0101010111 111101 11111 111101 01011101 01110101 111010101 110101 11010111 010101 11011101 01010101 0101011101 101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,429 |
Words | 257 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 157 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 36 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:19 min read
- 26 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"To The King Of Macedonia" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15773/to-the-king-of-macedonia>.
Discuss this George Moses Horton poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In