Analysis of Silence and Stealth of Days

Henry Vaughan 1621 (Brecknockshire) – 1695



Silence, and stealth of days! 'tis now
Since thou art gone,
Twelve hundred hours, and not a brow
But clouds hang on.
As he that in some cave's thick damp
Lockt from the light,
Fixeth a solitary lamp,
To brave the night,
And walking from his sun, when past
That glim'ring ray
Cuts through the heavy mists in haste
Back to his day,
So o'r fled minutes I retreat
Unto that hour
Which show'd thee last, but did defeat
Thy light, and power,
I search, and rack my soul to see
Those beams again,
But nothing but the snuff to me
Appeareth plain;
That dark and dead sleeps in its known
And common urn,
But those fled to their Maker's throne
There shine and burn;
O could I track them! but souls must
Track one the other,
And now the spirit, not the dust,
Must be thy brother.
Yet I have one Pearl by whose light
All things I see,
And in the heart of earth and night
Find heaven and thee.


Scheme ABACDEDEFGHGIJIJKLKMNONOPJPJEKEK
Poetic Form
Metre 10011111 1111 110100101 1111 11101111 1101 101001 1101 01011111 111 11010101 1111 111110101 10110 11111101 11010 11011111 1101 11010111 11 11011011 0101 11111101 1101 11111111 11010 01010101 11110 11111111 1111 00011101 11001
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 886
Words 174
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 32
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 21
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 676
Words per stanza (avg) 172
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 09, 2023

53 sec read
201

Henry Vaughan

Henry Vaughan was a Welsh author, physician and metaphysical poet. Vaughan and his twin brother, the hermetic philosopher and alchemist Thomas Vaughan, were the sons of Thomas Vaughan and his wife Denise of 'Trenewydd', Newton, in Brecknockshire, Wales. Their grandfather, William, was the owner of Tretower Court. Vaughan spent most of his life in the village of Llansantffraed, near Brecon, where he is also buried. more…

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