Analysis of The Charioteer
Herbert Asquith 1881 – 1947
(TO A CHILD)
LOVE be thy charioteer:
In all thy brightening and thy darkening hours
May he be at thine ear;
So shalt thou sail at ease above the tow'rs,
Where pale Ambition, in his clouded hood,
Climbs, step by step, the stair;
And Beauty, dancing in the roadside flow'rs,
Or resting in her mountain quietude,
Tresses a-wander on the sunlit air,
Shall meet thee everywhere.
Then the fast-withered leaves of poor Caprice
Shall live again; and she be happy yet.
Freed from the tangle of her glittering net:
And Poverty no longer want for alms,
And everything be blessed,
Save fevered Avarice,
With his discoloured palms,
And talons prisoned in his own gray breast.
Above the path of death,
Through field and wood,
Mountain and flood,
Upon the whirlwind's breath,
My way be sped!
If die thou must,
With wine and crust,
Through flow'rs to dust,
Be thou so charioted!
Scheme | A BCBCDBCABBXEEXFXXFGDXGXHHHA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101 1111 0111000110010 111111 1111110101 1101001101 111101 010100011 11000101 100101011 11110 1011011101 1101011101 11010101001 0100110111 01011 110100 1111 0101001111 010111 1101 1001 01011 1111 1111 1101 1111 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 843 |
Words | 153 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 27 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 337 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 76 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 47 sec read
- 120 Views
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"The Charioteer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/19033/the-charioteer>.
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