Analysis of Flower-De-Luce: The Bridge Of Cloud
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
Burn, O evening hearth, and waken
Pleasant visions, as of old!
Though the house by winds be shaken,
Safe I keep this room of gold!
Ah, no longer wizard Fancy
Builds her castles in the air,
Luring me by necromancy
Up the never-ending stair!
But, instead, she builds me bridges
Over many a dark ravine,
Where beneath the gusty ridges
Cataracts dash and roar unseen.
And I cross them, little heeding
Blast of wind or torrent's roar,
As I follow the receding
Footsteps that have gone before.
Naught avails the imploring gesture,
Naught avails the cry of pain!
When I touch the flying vesture,
'Tis the gray robe of the rain.
Baffled I return, and, leaning
O'er the parapets of cloud,
Watch the mist that intervening
Wraps the valley in its shroud.
And the sounds of life ascending
Faintly, vaguely, meet the ear,
Murmur of bells and voices blending
With the rush of waters near.
Well I know what there lies hidden,
Every tower and town and farm,
And again the land forbidden
Reassumes its vanished charm.
Well I know the secret places,
And the nests in hedge and tree;
At what doors are friendly faces,
In what hearts are thoughts of me.
Through the mist and darkness sinking,
Blown by wind and beaten by shower,
Down I fling the thought I'm thinking,
Down I toss this Alpine flower.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJDJ GKGK GXGX ALAL ECEC GIGI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (90%) Etheree (30%) |
Metre | 11101010 1010111 10111110 1111111 11101010 1010001 1011100 1010101 10111110 10100101 10101010 1010101 01111010 111111 11100010 111101 11001010 110111 1110101 1011101 10101010 100111 1011010 1010011 00111010 1010101 101101010 1011101 11111110 100100101 00101100 11101 11101010 0010101 11111010 0111111 10101010 111010110 11101110 1111110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,287 |
Words | 231 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 101 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:10 min read
- 123 Views
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