Analysis of The Sermon Of The Rose
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
Wilful we are in our infirmity
Of childish questioning and discontent.
Whate'er befalls us is divinely meant--
Thou Truth the clearer for thy mystery!
Make us to meet what is or is to be
With fervid welcome, knowing it is sent
To serve us in some way full excellent,
Though we discern it all belatedly.
The rose buds, and the rose blooms and the rose
Bows in the dews, and in its fulness, lo,
Is in the lover's hand,--then on the breast
Of her he loves,--and there dies.--And who knows
Which fate of all a rose may undergo
Is fairest, dearest, sweetest, loveliest?
Nay, we are children: we will not mature.
A blessed gift must seem a theft; and tears
Must storm our eyes when but a joy appears
In drear disguise of sorrow; and how poor
We seem when we are richest,--most secure
Against all poverty the lifelong years
We yet must waste in childish doubts and fears
That, in despite of reason, still endure!
Alas! the sermon of the rose we will
Not wisely ponder; nor the sobs of grief
Lulled into sighs of rapture; nor the cry
Of fierce defiance that again is still.
Be patient--patient with our frail belief,
And stay it yet a little ere we die.
O opulent life of ours, though dispossessed
Of treasure after treasure! Youth most fair
Went first, but left its priceless coil of hair--
Moaned over sleepless nights, kissed and caressed
Through drip and blur of tears the tenderest.
And next went Love--the ripe rose glowing there
Her very sister!... It is here; but where
Is she, of all the world the first and best?
And yet how sweet the sweet earth after rain--
How sweet the sunlight on the garden wall
Across the roses--and how sweetly flows
The limpid yodel of the brook again!
And yet--and yet how sweeter after all,
The smouldering sweetness of a dead red rose!
Scheme | ABBAABXACDECDA FXGXFGGFHIJHIJ EKKEAKKEXLCXLC |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110100100 1101000001 1001110101 1101011100 1111111111 1101010111 1110111100 1101110100 0110011001 100100111 1001011101 1011011011 111101101 11010101 1111011101 011110101 11101110101 0101110011 1111110101 0111000111 1111010101 1001110101 0101010111 1101010111 1011110101 1101010111 11010110101 0111010111 11001110101 1101010111 1111110111 1101011001 11011101 0111011101 0101011111 1111010101 0111011101 110110101 0101001101 011010101 0101110101 011010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,733 |
Words | 327 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 14, 14, 14 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 459 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 107 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:38 min read
- 111 Views
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"The Sermon Of The Rose" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/21115/the-sermon-of-the-rose>.
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