Analysis of The Serenade
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
The midnight is not more bewildering
To her drowsed eyes, than to her ears, the sound
Of dim, sweet singing voices, interwound
With purl of flute and subtle twang of string,
Strained through the lattice, where the roses cling
And, with their fragrance, waft the notes around
Her haunted senses. Thirsting beyond bound
Of her slow-yielding dreams, the lilt and swing
Of the mysterious delirious tune,
She drains like some strange opiate, with awed eyes
Upraised against her casement, where aswoon,
The stars fail from her sight, and up the skies
Of alien azure rolls the full round moon
Like some vast bubble blown of summer noon.
Scheme | ABBAABBACDCDCC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011110100 1011110101 11110101 1111010111 1101010101 0111010101 010101011 1011010101 10010001001 11111100111 1010111 0111010101 11001010111 1111011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 624 |
Words | 109 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 506 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 107 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 32 sec read
- 58 Views
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"The Serenade" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/21114/the-serenade>.
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