Analysis of The Two Angels. (Birds Of Passage. Flight The First)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
Two angels, one of Life and one of Death,
Passed o'er our village as the morning broke;
The dawn was on their faces, and beneath,
The sombre houses hearsed with plumes of smoke.
Their attitude and aspect were the same,
Alike their features and their robes of white;
But one was crowned with amaranth, as with flame,
And one with asphodels, like flakes of light.
I saw them pause on their celestial way;
Then said I, with deep fear and doubt oppressed,
'Beat not so loud, my heart, lest thou betray
The place where thy beloved are at rest!'
And he who wore the crown of asphodels,
Descending, at my door began to knock,
And my soul sank within me, as in wells
The waters sink before an earthquake's shock.
I recognized the nameless agony,
The terror and the tremor and the pain,
That oft before had filled or haunted me,
And now returned with threefold strength again.
The door I opened to my heavenly guest,
And listened, for I thought I heard God's voice;
And, knowing whatsoe'er he sent was best,
Dared neither to lament nor to rejoice.
Then with a smile, that filled the house with light,
'My errand is not Death, but Life,' he said;
And ere I answered, passing out of sight,
On his celestial embassy he sped.
'T was at thy door, O friend! and not at mine,
The angel with the amaranthine wreath,
Pausing, descended, and with voice divine,
Whispered a word that had a sound like Death.
Then fell upon the house a sudden gloom,
A shadow on those features fair and thin;
And softly, from that hushed and darkened room,
Two angels issued, where but one went in.
All is of God! If he but wave his hand,
The mists collect, the rain falls thick and loud,
Till, with a smile of light on sea and land,
Lo! he looks back from the departing cloud.
Angels of Life and Death alike are his;
Without his leave they pass no threshold o'er;
Who, then, would wish or dare, believing this,
Against his messengers to shut the door?
Scheme | ABCB DEDE FGFG HIHI JXJX GHGH EKEK LCLA MNMN OPOP HXHX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (73%) |
Metre | 1101110111 110101010101 0111110001 011011111 11001001 0111001111 1111110111 01111111 1111110101 1111110101 1111111101 011101111 01110111 0101110111 0111011101 010101111 110010100 0100010001 1101111101 010111101 01110111001 0101111111 01011111 1101011101 1101110111 1101111111 0111010111 1101010011 11111110111 0101011 1001001101 1001110111 1101010101 011110101 0101110101 1101011110 1111111111 0101011101 1101111101 1111100101 1011010111 0111111110 1111110101 0111001101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,889 |
Words | 358 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 135 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:48 min read
- 93 Views
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"The Two Angels. (Birds Of Passage. Flight The First)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18949/the-two-angels.-%28birds-of-passage.-flight-the-first%29>.
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