Analysis of A Nameless Grave
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
'A soldier of the Union mustered out,'
Is the inscription on an unknown grave
At Newport News, beside the salt-sea wave,
Nameless and dateless; sentinel or scout
Shot down in skirmish, or disastrous rout
Of battle, when the loud artillery drave
Its iron wedges through the ranks of brave
And doomed battalions, storming the redoubt.
Thou unknown hero sleeping by the sea
In thy forgotten grave! with secret shame
I feel my pulses beat, my forehead burn,
When I remember thou hast given for me
All that thou hadst, thy life, thy very name,
And I can give thee nothing in return.
Scheme | ABBAABBACDECDE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101010101 1001011011 1101010111 100110011 1101010101 11010101001 1101010111 0101010001 1011010101 0101011101 1111011101 11010111011 1111111101 0111110001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 572 |
Words | 105 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 458 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 102 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 31 sec read
- 264 Views
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"A Nameless Grave" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18492/a-nameless-grave>.
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