Analysis of The Golden Legend: V. A Covered Bridge At Lucerne
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
_Prince Henry_. God's blessing on the architects who build
The bridges o'er swift rivers and abysses
Before impassable to human feet,
No less than on the builders of cathedrals,
Whose massive walls are bridges thrown across
The dark and terrible abyss of Death.
Well has the name of Pontifex been given
Unto the Church's head, as the chief builder
And architect of the invisible bridge
That leads from earth to heaven.
_Elsie_ How dark it grows!
What are these paintings on the walls around us?
_Prince Henry_ The Dance Macaber!
_Prince Henry_ The Dance of Death!
All that go to and fro must look upon it,
Mindful of what they shall be, while beneath,
Among the wooden piles, the turbulent river
Rushes, impetuous as the river of life,
With dimpling eddies, ever green and bright,
Save where the shadow of this bridge falls on it.
_Elsie._ O, yes! I see it now!
_Prince Henry_ The grim musician
Leads all men through the mazes of that dance,
To different sounds in different measures moving;
Sometimes he plays a lute, sometimes a drum,
To tempt or terrify.
_Elsie_ What is this picture?
_Prince Henry_ It is a young man singing to a nun,
Who kneels at her devotions, but in kneeling
Turns round to look at him, and Death, meanwhile,
Is putting out the candles on the altar!
_Elsie_ Ah, what a pity 't is that she should listen
to such songs, when in her orisons
She might have heard in heaven the angels singing!
_Prince Henry_ Here he has stolen a jester's cap and bells,
And dances with the Queen.
_Elsie_ A foolish jest!
_Prince Henry_ And here the heart of the new-wedded wife,
Coming from church with her beloved lord,
He startles with the rattle of his drum.
_Elsie_ Ah, that is sad! And yet perhaps 't is best
That she should die, with all the sunshine on her,
And all the benedictions of the morning,
Before this affluence of golden light
Shall fade into a cold and clouded gray,
Then into darkness!
_Prince Henry_ Under it is written,
'Nothing but death shall separate thee and me!'
_Elsie._ And what is this, that follows close upon it?
_Prince Henry_ Death, playing on a ducimer. Behind him,
A poor old woman, with a rosary,
Follows the sound, and seems to wish her feet
Were swifter to o'ertake him. Underneath,
The inscription reads, 'Better is Death than Life.'
_Elsie._ Better is Death than Life! Ah yes! to thousands
Death plays upon a dulcimer, and sings
That song of consolation, till the air
Rings with it, and they cannot choose but follow
Whither he leads. And not the old alone,
But the young also hear it, and are still.
_Prince Henry_ Yes, in their sadder moments. 'T is the sound
Of their own hearts they hear, half full of tears,
Which are like crystal cups, half filled with water.
Responding to the pressure of a finger
With music sweet and low and melancholy.
Let us go forward, and no longer stay
In this great picture-gallery of Death!
I hate it! ay, the very thought of it!
_Elsie._ Why is it hateful to you?
_Prince Henry._ For the reason
That life, and all that speaks of life, is lovely,
And death, and all that speaks of death, is hateful.
_Elsie._ The grave is but a covered bridge,
leading from light to light, through a brief darkness!
_Prince Henry (emerging from the bridge)._ I breathe again more
freely! Ah, how pleasant
To come once more into the light of day,
Out of that shadow of death! To hear again
The hoof-beats of our horses on firm ground,
And not upon those hollow planks, resounding
With a sepulchral echo, like the clods
On coffins in a churchyard! Yonder lies
The Lake of the Four Forest-Towns, apparelled
In light, and lingering, like a village maiden,
Hid in the bosom of her native mountains,
Then pouring all her life into another's,
Changing her name and being! Overhead,
Shaking his cloudy tresses loose in air,
Rises Pilatus, with his windy pines.
(_They pass on_.)
* * * * *
THE DEVIL'S BRIDGE.
* * * * *
PRINCE HENRY _and_ ELSIE _crossing, with attendants._
_Guide._ This bridge is called the Devil's Bridge.
With a single arch, from ridge to ridge,
It leaps across the terrible chasm
Yawning beneath us, black and deep,
As if, in some convulsive spasm,
the summits of the hills had cracked,
and made a road for the cataract,
That raves and rages down the steep!
_Lucifer (under the bridge)._ Ha! ha!
_Guide._ Never any
Scheme | ABCBBDEFGE BB F DHIFJKH X EBLMX F ELXF EBL BX N JXM NFLKOB EP H XPCIJ BBQXXX RBFFPODH X EPX GB XXOXRLBBAEBBXQB E G B GGMSMTTS X P |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110101011 0101011001 0101001101 11110101010 1101110101 0101000111 110111110 10010110110 0101001001 1111110 11111 11110101011 11011 110111 11110111011 1011111101 010101010010 10010101011 111010101 1101111111 1111111 1101010 1111010111 1100101001010 0111010101 11110 111110 111101110101 111011010 111111011 11010101010 1110101111110 1111001 111101001010 1111110010101 010101 10101 110101101101 101110011 1101010111 111110101111 1111110110 01011010 0111001101 1101010101 10110 11101110 1011110101 101111101011 11110101011 0111010100 1001011101 01011101 00101101111 110111111110 1101010001 111010101 11101101110 1011010101 1011011011 1110110101101 1111111111 11110111110 01010101010 1101010100 1111001101 0111010011 1111010111 11111011 111010 11011111110 01011111110 101110101 10111110110 110010101111011 101110 1111010111 1111111101 01111010111 01011101010 10110101 110001101 011011011 010100101010 10010101010 11010101010 1001010101 1011010101 1001011101 111 1 0101 1 110110111 111110101 101011111 1101010010 10011101 110101010 01010111 010110100 11010101 11001111 11010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 4,196 |
Words | 785 |
Sentences | 61 |
Stanzas | 30 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 2, 1, 7, 1, 5, 1, 4, 3, 2, 1, 3, 6, 2, 1, 5, 6, 8, 1, 3, 2, 15, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 8, 1, 1 |
Lines Amount | 104 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 111 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:57 min read
- 130 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Golden Legend: V. A Covered Bridge At Lucerne" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18865/the-golden-legend%3A-v.-a-covered-bridge-at-lucerne>.
Discuss this Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In