Analysis of The Angel And The Child. (From Jean Reboul, The Baker Of Nismes)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
An angel with a radiant face,
Above a cradle bent to look,
Seemed his own image there to trace,
As in the waters of a brook.
'Dear child! who me resemblest so,'
It whispered, 'come, O come with me!
Happy together let us go,
The earth unworthy is of thee!
'Here none to perfect bliss attain;
The soul in pleasure suffering lies;
Joy hath an undertone of pain,
And even the happiest hours their sighs.
'Fear doth at every portal knock;
Never a day serene and pure
From the o'ershadowing tempest's shock
Hath made the morrow's dawn secure.
'What then, shall sorrows and shall fears
Come to disturb so pure a brow?
And with the bitterness of tears
These eyes of azure troubled grow?
'Ah no! into the fields of space,
Away shalt thou escape with me;
And Providence will grant thee grace
Of all the days that were to be.
'Let no one in thy dwelling cower,
In sombre vestments draped and veiled;
But let them welcome thy last hour,
As thy first moments once they hailed.
'Without a cloud be there each brow;
There let the grave no shadow cast;
When one is pure as thou art now,
The fairest day is still the last.'
And waving wide his wings of white,
The angel, at these words, had sped
Towards the eternal realms of light!--
Poor mother! see, thy son is dead!
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH XIXC ADAD JKJK ILIL MNMN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (89%) |
Metre | 110101001 01010111 11110111 10010101 111111 11011111 10010111 01010111 11101101 010101001 1111011 01001001011 111100101 10010101 10111 1101101 11110011 11011101 01010011 11110101 11010111 01110111 01001111 11011011 111011010 011101 111101110 11110111 01011111 1101111 11111111 01011101 01011111 01011111 010010111 11011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,260 |
Words | 239 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 107 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 110 Views
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"The Angel And The Child. (From Jean Reboul, The Baker Of Nismes)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18813/the-angel-and-the-child.-%28from-jean-reboul%2C-the-baker-of-nismes%29>.
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