Analysis of Herba Santa
I
After long wars when comes release
Not olive wands proclaiming peace
Can import dearer share
Than stems of Herba Santa hazed
In autumn's Indian air.
Of moods they breathe that care disarm,
They pledge us lenitive and calm.
II
Shall code or creed a lure afford
To win all selves to Love's accord?
When Love ordained a supper divine
For the wide world of man,
What bickerings o'er his gracious wine!
Then strange new feuds began.
Effectual more in lowlier way,
Pacific Herb, thy sensuous plea
The bristling clans of Adam sway
At least to fellowship in thee!
Before thine altar tribal flags are furled,
Fain wouldst thou make one hearthstone of
the world.
III
To scythe, to sceptre, pen and hod--
Yea, sodden laborers dumb;
To brains overplied, to feet that plod,
In solace of the _Truce of God_
The Calumet has come!
IV
Ah for the world ere Raleigh's find
Never that knew this suasive balm
That helps when Gilead's fails to heal,
Helps by an interserted charm.
Insinuous thou that through the nerve
Windest the soul, and so canst win
Some from repinings, some from sin,
The Church's aim thou dost subserve.
The ruffled fag fordone with care
And brooding, God would ease this pain:
Him soothest thou and smoothest down
Till some content return again.
Even ruffians feel thy influence breed
Saint Martin's summer in the mind,
They feel this last evangel plead,
As did the first, apart from creed,
Be peaceful, man--be kind!
V
Rejected once on higher plain,
O Love supreme, to come again
Can this be thine?
Again to come, and win us too
In likeness of a weed
That as a god didst vainly woo,
As man more vainly bleed?
VI
Forbear, my soul! and in thine Eastern
chamber
Rehearse the dream that brings the long
release:
Through jasmine sweet and talismanic amber
Inhaling Herba Santa in the passive Pipe
of Peace.
Scheme | ABBCDCEF ADDGHGH IJIJDKD ADLDDL KDFXE XMMK CNXN DDDDD JNNGDDXD AXOXBOXB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1 10111101 11010101 101101 1111101 0101001 11111101 111101 1 11110101 11111101 110101001 101111 11101101 111101 11011 010111001 010011101 1111001 0111010111 1111111 01 1 11110101 1101001 1111111 01010111 00111 1 11011101 1011111 1111111 11111 111101 1010111 111111 0101111 0101111 01011111 1110101 11100101 101111001 11010001 111111 11010111 110111 1 01011101 11011101 1111 01110111 010101 11011101 111101 1 11100110 10 01011101 01 11010110 01011000101 11 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,753 |
Words | 323 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 7, 7, 6, 5, 4, 4, 5, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 62 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 143 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:39 min read
- 35 Views
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"Herba Santa" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 Sep. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/19073/herba-santa>.
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