Analysis of Lights Out
Henry Van Dyke 1852 (Germantown, Pennsylvania) – 1933 (Princeton, New Jersey)
"Lights out" along the land,
"Lights out" upon the sea.
The night must put her hiding hand
O'er peaceful towns where children sleep,
And peaceful ships that darkly creep
Across the waves, as if they were not free.
The dragons of the air,
The hell-hounds of the deep,
Lurking and prowling everywhere,
Go forth to seek their helpless prey,
Not knowing whom they maim or slay--
Mad harvesters, who care not what they reap.
Out with the tranquil lights,
Out with the lights that burn
For love and law and human rights!
Set back the clock a thousand years:
All they have gained now disappears,
And the dark ages suddenly return.
Kaiser who loosed wild death,
And terror in the night--
God grant you draw no quiet breath,
Until the madness you began
Is ended, and long-suffering man,
Set free from war lords, cries, "Let there be Light."
Scheme | ABACCB DCDEEC FGFHHG IJIKKJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110101 110101 01110101 101011101 01011101 0101111011 010101 011101 1001010 11111101 11011111 1100111111 110101 110111 11010101 11010101 1111101 0011010001 101111 010001 11111101 01010101 110011001 1111111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 820 |
Words | 151 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 162 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 37 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 01, 2023
- 45 sec read
- 107 Views
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"Lights Out" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18344/lights-out>.
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