Analysis of An Arctic Quest

Helen Hunt Jackson 1830 (Amherst, Massachusetts) – 1885 (San Francisco)



O proudly name their names who bravely sail
To seek brave lost in Arctic snows and seas!
Bring money and bring ships, and on strong knees
Pray prayers so strong that not one word can fail
To pierce God's listening heart!
Rigid and pale,
The lost men's bodies, waiting, drift and freeze;
Yet shall their solemn dead lips tell to these
Who find them secrets mighty to prevail
On farther, darker, icier seas.
I go
Alone, unhelped, unprayed-for. Perishing
For years in realms of more than Arctic snow,
My heart has lingered.
Will the poor dead thing
Be sign to quide past bitter flood and floe,
To open sea, some strong heart triumphing?


Scheme ABBACABBABDEDFEDD
Poetic Form
Metre 1101111101 1111010101 1100110111 1111111111 1111001 1001 0111010101 1111011111 1111010101 1101011 11 01111100 1101111101 11110 10111 1111110101 11011111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 641
Words 115
Sentences 7
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 17
Lines Amount 17
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 500
Words per stanza (avg) 113
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 18, 2023

35 sec read
79

Helen Hunt Jackson

Helen Maria Hunt Jackson, born Helen Fiske, was an American poet and writer who became an activist on behalf of improved treatment of Native Americans by the United States government. more…

All Helen Hunt Jackson poems | Helen Hunt Jackson Books

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