Analysis of The Shepherd's Tree
John Clare 1793 (Helpston) – 1864 (St Andrew's Hospital)
Huge elm, with rifted trunk all notched and scarred,
Like to a warrior's destiny! I love
To stretch me often on thy shadowed sward,
And hear the laugh of summer leaves above;
Or on thy buttressed roots to sit, and lean
In careless attitude, and there reflect
On times and deeds and darings that have been -
Old castaways, now swallowed in neglect, -
While thou art towering in thy strength of heart,
Stirring the soul to vain imaginings
In which life's sordid being hath no part.
The wind of that eternal ditty sings,
Humming of future things, that burn the mind
To leave some fragment of itself behind.
Scheme | ABCBDEFEGHGHII |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111101 110110011 1111011101 0101110101 1111011101 010100101 110101111 110110001 11110001111 1001111 0111010111 0111010101 1011011101 1111010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 600 |
Words | 111 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 477 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 109 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 33 sec read
- 131 Views
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