Analysis of Hide and Seek
Henry Van Dyke 1852 (Germantown, Pennsylvania) – 1933 (Princeton, New Jersey)
All the trees are sleeping, all the winds are still,
All the flocks of fleecy clouds have wandered past the hill;
Through the noonday silence, down the woods of June,
Hark, a little hunter's voice comes running with a tune.
"Hide and seek!
"When I speak,
"You must answer me:
"Call again,
"Merry men,
"Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!"
Now I hear his footsteps, rustling through the grass:
Hidden in my leafy nook, shall I let him pass?
Just a low, soft whistle,--quick the hunter turns,
Leaps upon me laughing, rolls me in the ferns.
"Hold him fast,
"Caught at last!
"Now you're it, you see.
"Hide your eye,
"Till I cry,
"Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!"
Long ago he left me, long and long ago:
Now I wander through the world and seek him high and low;
Hidden safe and happy, in some pleasant place,--
Ah, if I could hear his voice, I soon should find his face.
Far away,
Many a day,
Where can Barney be?
Answer, dear,
Don't you hear?
Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!
Birds that in the spring-time thrilled his heart with joy,
Flowers he loved to pick for me, mind me of my boy.
Surely he is waiting till my steps come nigh;
Love may hide itself awhile, but love can never die.
Heart, be glad,
The little lad
Will call some day to thee:
"Father dear,
"Heaven is here,
"Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!"
Scheme | aabbccdeeD ffgghhdiiD jjkklldmnD ooiippdmnD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (30%) Etheree (25%) |
Metre | 10111010111 1011101110101 1011010111 1010101110101 101 111 11101 101 101 111111 1111110101 100110111111 10111010101 10111011001 111 111 11111 111 111 111111 10111110101 1110101011101 10101001101 1111111111111 101 1001 11101 101 111 111111 11001111111 1011111111111 10111011111 1110101111101 111 0101 111111 101 1011 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,239 |
Words | 241 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 10, 10, 10 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 234 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 58 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 94 Views
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"Hide and Seek" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18327/hide-and-seek>.
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