Analysis of Sonnet 09

Henry Timrod 1828 (Charleston) – 1867 (Columbia)



I know not why, but all this weary day,
Suggested by no definite grief or pain,
Sad fancies have been flitting through my brain;
Now it has been a vessel losing way,
Rounding a stormy headland; now a gray
Dull waste of clouds above a wintry main;
And then, a banner, drooping in the rain,
And meadows beaten into bloody clay.
Strolling at random with this shadowy woe
At heart, I chanced to wander hither! Lo!
A league of desolate marsh-land, with its lush,
Hot grasses in a noisome, tide-left bed,
And faint, warm airs, that nestle in the hush,
Like whispers round the body of the dead!


Scheme ABBAABBACCDEDE
Poetic Form
Metre 1111111101 01011100111 1101110111 1111010101 100101101 1111010101 0101010001 011001101 10110111001 1111110101 01110011111 110001111 0111110001 1101010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 593
Words 110
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 456
Words per stanza (avg) 108
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
28

Henry Timrod

Henry Timrod was an American poet, often called the poet laureate of the Confederacy. more…

All Henry Timrod poems | Henry Timrod Books

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