Analysis of An Elegy on Parting

James Thomson 1700 (Port Glasgow) – 1748 (London)



It was a sad, ay 'twas a sad farewell,
I still afresh the pangs of parting feel;
Against my breast my heart impatient beat,
And in deep sighs bemoan'd its cruel fate;
Thus with the object of my love to part,
My life! my joy! 'twould rend a rocky heart.
Where'er I turn myself, where'er I go,
I meet the image of my lovely foe;
With witching charms the phantom still appears,
And with her wanton smiles insults my tears;
Still haunts the places where we used to walk,
And where with raptures oft I heard her talk:
Those scenes I now with deepest sorrow view,
And sighing bid to all delight adieu.
While I my head upon this turf recline,
Officious sun, in vain on me you shine;
In vain unto the smiling fields I hie;
In vain the flowery meads salute my eye;
In vain the cheerful birds and shepherds sing,
And with their carols make the valleys ring;
Yea, all the pleasure that the country yield
Can't me from sorrow for her absence shield;
With divine pleasure books which one inspire,
Yea, books themselves I do not now admire.
But hark! methinks some pitying power I hear,
This welcome message whisper in my ear:
‘Forget thy groundless griefs, dejected swain,
You and the nymph you love shall meet again;
No more your muse shall sing such mournful lays,
But bounteous heaven and your kind mistress praise.’


Scheme ABCDEEFFGHIIJJKKLMNNOOPPQQRSTT
Poetic Form Tetractys  (20%)
Etheree  (20%)
Metre 110111011 1101011101 0111110101 0011011101 1101011111 1111110101 101111011 1101011101 1101010101 0101010111 1101011111 011111101 1111110101 0101110101 1111011101 11011111 0110010111 01010010111 0101010101 0111010101 1101010101 1111010101 1011011101 1101111101 11111001011 1101010011 0111010101 1001111101 1111111101 1110011101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,318
Words 242
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 30
Lines Amount 30
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 1,022
Words per stanza (avg) 239
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:13 min read
77

James Thomson

James Thomson, who wrote under the pseudonym Bysshe Vanolis, was a Scottish Victorian-era poet famous primarily for the long poem The City of Dreadful Night, an expression of bleak pessimism in a dehumanized, uncaring urban environment. more…

All James Thomson poems | James Thomson Books

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