Analysis of A Requiem
Herman Melville 1819 – 1891
_For Soldiers lost in Ocean Transports_
When, after storms that woodlands rue,
To valleys comes atoning dawn,
The robins blithe their orchard-sports renew;
And meadow-larks, no more withdrawn
Caroling fly in the languid blue;
The while, from many a hid recess,
Alert to partake the blessedness,
The pouring mites their airy dance pursue.
So, after ocean's ghastly gales,
When laughing light of hoyden morning
breaks,
Every finny hider wakes--
From vaults profound swims up with
glittering scales;
Through the delightsome sea he sails,
With shoals of shining tiny things
Frolic on every wave that flings
Against the prow its showery spray;
All creatures joying in the morn,
Save them forever from joyance torn,
Whose bark was lost where now the
dolphins play;
Save them that by the fabled shore,
Down the pale stream are washed away,
Far to the reef of bones are borne;
And never revisits them the light,
Nor sight of long-sought land and pilot more;
Nor heed they now the lone bird's flight
Round the lone spar where mid-sea surges
pour.
Scheme | A BCBCBAAAAXAAXAAAADEEXDFDEGFGAF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010101 1101111 110111 0101110101 0111101 1100101 011100101 011010100 0101110101 11010101 11011110 1 1001101 1101111 1001 101111 11110101 101100111 0101111 11010001 11010111 1111110 101 11110101 10111101 11011111 010010101 1111110101 11110111 101111110 1 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,015 |
Words | 176 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 30 |
Lines Amount | 31 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 416 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 87 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 53 sec read
- 73 Views
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"A Requiem" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/19049/a-requiem>.
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