Analysis of The Tower
Harriet Monroe 1860 (Chicago) – 1936 (Arequipa)
He built a tower for all to see,
With sun-washed gardens planted wide.
And there with pomp of pageantry,
With men-at-arms and minstrelsy
And moonbeam ladies fair and free,
He revelled in his pride.
And there, with soft prayers muttered slow,
And wind-blown candles burning low,
And hooded mourners row on row,
In pomp of peace he died.
Now time forgets how many a sun
Above the waste has risen and run
Since all the feasts were over and done;
Yet still from rusty pinnacle,
From cobwebbed pane and broken bell,
A wind-voice murmurs: Here am I—
'Twas good to live and die;
And good to rear these carved stones well
'Twixt laboring earth and dreaming sky.
And now 'tis good to watch and wait
While the slow centuries pass in state,
And make old time my glory tell
To you who wander by.
Scheme | ABAAABCCCB DDDXEFFEFGGEF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110101111 11110101 01111100 111101 0110101 11011 01111101 01110101 01010111 011111 110111001 010111001 110101001 11110100 1110101 01110111 111101 01111111 110010101 01111101 101100101 01111101 111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 793 |
Words | 146 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 13 |
Lines Amount | 23 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 307 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 72 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 43 sec read
- 101 Views
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"The Tower" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/16938/the-tower>.
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