Analysis of Ultima Thule: Old St. David's At Radnor
What an image of peace and rest
Is this little church among its graves!
All is so quiet; the troubled breast,
The wounded spirit, the heart oppressed,
Here may find the repose it craves.
See, how the ivy climbs and expands
Over this humble hermitage,
And seems to caress with its little hands
The rough, gray stones, as a child that stands
Caressing the wrinkled cheeks of age!
You cross the threshold; and dim and small
Is the space that serves for the Shepherd's Fold;
The narrow aisle, the bare, white wall,
The pews, and the pulpit quaint and tall,
Whisper and say: 'Alas! we are old.'
Herbert's chapel at Bemerton
Hardly more spacious is than this;
But poet and pastor, blent in one,
Clothed with a splendor, as of the sun,
That lowly and holy edifice.
It is not the wall of stone without
That makes the building small or great,
But the soul's light shining round about,
And the faith that overcometh doubt,
And the love that stronger is than hate.
Were I a pilgrim in search of peace,
Were I a pastor of Holy Church,
More than a Bishop's diocese
Should I prize this place of rest and release
From further longing and further search.
Here would I stay, and let the world
With its distant thunder roar and roll;
Storms do not rend the sail that is furled;
Nor like a dead leaf, tossed and whirled
In an eddy of wind, is the anchored soul.
Scheme | ABAAB CXCCX DEDDE FXFFX GHGGH IJXIJ KLAKL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11101101 111010111 111100101 010100101 11100111 110101001 10110100 0110111101 011110111 010010111 11010101 1011110101 01010111 010010101 100101111 101011 10110111 110010101 110101101 110010100 111011101 11010111 101110101 001111 001110111 010100111 010101101 1101010 1111111001 110100101 11110101 111010101 111101111 11011101 01101110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,322 |
Words | 252 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 35 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 150 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 36 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:16 min read
- 180 Views
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"Ultima Thule: Old St. David's At Radnor" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18988/ultima-thule%3A-old-st.-david%27s-at-radnor>.
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