Analysis of Morton
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
The warm pulse of the nation has grown chill;
The muffled heart of Freedom, like a knell,
Throbs solemnly for one whose earthly will
Wrought every mission well.
Whose glowing reason towered above the sea
Of dark disaster like a beacon light,
And led the Ship of State, unscathed and free,
Out of the gulfs of night.
When Treason, rabid-mouthed, and fanged with steel,
Lay growling o'er the bones of fallen braves,
And when beneath the tyrant's iron heel
Were ground the hearts of slaves,
And War, with all his train of horrors, leapt
Across the fortress-walls of Liberty
With havoc e'en the marble goddess wept
With tears of blood to see.
Throughout it all his brave and kingly mind
Kept loyal vigil o'er the patriot's vow,
And yet the flag he lifted to the wind
Is drooping o'er him now.
And Peace--all pallid from the battle-field
When first again it hovered o'er the land
And found his voice above it like a shield,
Had nestled in his hand.
O throne of State and gilded Senate halls--
Though thousands throng your aisles and galleries--
How empty are ye! and what silence falls
On your hilarities!
And yet, though great the loss to us appears,
The consolation sweetens all our pain--
Though hushed the voice, through all the coming years
Its echoes will remain.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GCGC HIHI JKJK LXLC MNMN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 0111010111 0101110101 1100111101 1100101 11010100101 1101010101 0101110101 110111 1101010111 11010011101 010101101 010111 0111111101 0101011100 11011010101 111111 0111110101 110101001001 0101110101 1101011 0111010101 11011101001 0111011101 110011 1111010101 1101110100 1101101101 111 0111011101 0010101101 1101110101 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,256 |
Words | 225 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 125 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 28 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:09 min read
- 113 Views
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"Morton" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20968/morton>.
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