Analysis of Earlier Poems : An April Day

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)



When the warm sun, that brings
Seed-time and harvest, has returned again,
'T is sweet to visit the still wood, where springs
The first flower of the plain.

I love the season well,
When forest glades are teeming with bright forms,
Nor dark and many-folded clouds foretell
The coming-on of storms.

From the earth's loosened mould
The sapling draws its sustenance, and thrives;
Though stricken to the heart with winter's cold,
The drooping tree revives.

The softly-warbled song
Comes from the pleasant woods, and colored wings
Glance quick in the bright sun, that moves along
The forest openings.

When the bright sunset fills
The silver woods with light, the green slope throws
Its shadows in the hollows of the hills,
And wide the upland glows.

And when the eve is born,
In the blue lake the sky, o'er-reaching far,
Is hollowed out and the moon dips her horn,
And twinkles many a star.

Inverted in the tide
Stand the gray rocks, and trembling shadows throw,
And the fair trees look over, side by side,
And see themselves below.

Sweet April! many a thought
Is wedded unto thee, as hearts are wed;
Nor shall they fail, till, to its autumn brought,
Life's golden fruit is shed.


Scheme AXAX BCBC DEDE FAFA GHGH IJIJ KLKL MNMN
Poetic Form Quatrain  (88%)
Metre 101111 1101010101 11111001111 0110101 110101 1101110111 1101010101 010111 101101 0101110001 1101011101 010101 010101 1101010101 1100111101 010100 10111 0101110111 110010101 010101 010111 00110110101 1101001101 0101001 010001 1011010011 0011110111 010101 1101001 1101011111 1111111101 110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,149
Words 207
Sentences 10
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 115
Words per stanza (avg) 26
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 01, 2023

1:03 min read
261

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. more…

All Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poems | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Books

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