Analysis of By The Fireside : Resignation
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
There is no flock, however watched and tended,
But one dead lamb is there!
There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended,
But has one vacant chair!
The air is full of farewells to the dying,
And mournings for the dead;
The heart of Rachel, for her children crying,
Will not be comforted!
Let us be patient! These severe afflictions
Not from the ground arise,
But oftentimes celestial benedictions
Assume this dark disguise.
We see but dimly through the mists and vapors;
Amid these earthly damps
What seem to us but sad, funereal tapers
May be heaven's distant lamps.
There is no Death! What seems so is transition;
This life of mortal breath
Is but a suburb of the life elysian,
Whose portal we call Death.
She is not dead,--the child of our affection,--
But gone unto that school
Where she no longer needs our poor protection,
And Christ himself doth rule.
In that great cloister's stillness and seclusion,
By guardian angels led,
Safe from temptation, safe from sin's pollution,
She lives, whom we call dead.
Day after day we think what she is doing
In those bright realms of air;
Year after year, her tender steps pursuing,
Behold her grown more fair.
Thus do we walk with her, and keep unbroken
The bond which nature gives,
Thinking that our remembrance, though unspoken,
May reach her where she lives.
Not as a child shall we again behold her;
For when with raptures wild
In our embraces we again enfold her,
She will not be a child;
But a fair maiden, in her Father's mansion,
Clothed with celestial grace;
And beautiful with all the soul's expansion
Shall we behold her face.
And though at times impetuous with emotion
And anguish long suppressed,
The swelling heart heaves moaning like the ocean,
That cannot be at rest,--
We will be patient, and assuage the feeling
We may not wholly stay;
By silence sanctifying, not concealing,
The grief that must have way.
Scheme | ABAB CDCX EFEF GHGH IJIJ IKIK IDID CBCB ILIL MNMN IOIO IPIP CQCQ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (92%) |
Metre | 1111101010 111111 111101010 111101 0111111010 01101 01110101010 111100 11110101010 110101 1100101 011101 11110101010 011101 111111110 1110101 11111111010 111101 110101011 110111 111101110010 111011 111101101010 010111 0111100010 1100101 11010111010 111111 11011111110 011111 11010101010 010111 11111001010 011101 101100101010 110111 11011101010 11111 010010101010 111101 10110001010 110101 01001101010 110101 01110101010 010101 01011101010 110111 11110001010 111101 11011010 011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,833 |
Words | 331 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 52 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 113 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 19, 2023
- 1:41 min read
- 170 Views
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"By The Fireside : Resignation" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18525/by-the-fireside-%3A-resignation>.
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