Analysis of Chicago
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)
Men said at vespers: 'All is well!'
In one wild night the city fell;
Fell shrines of prayer and marts of gain
Before the fiery hurricane.
On threescore spires had sunset shone,
Where ghastly sunrise looked on none.
Men clasped each other's hands, and said
'The City of the West is dead!'
Brave hearts who fought, in slow retreat,
The fiends of fire from street to street,
Turned, powerless, to the blinding glare,
The dumb defiance of despair.
A sudden impulse thrilled each wire
That signalled round that sea of fire;
Swift words of cheer, warm heart-throbs came;
In tears of pity died the flame!
From East, from West, from South and North,
The messages of hope shot forth,
And, underneath the severing wave,
The world, full-handed, reached to save.
Fair seemed the old; but fairer still
The new, the dreary void shall fill
With dearer homes than those o'erthrown,
For love shall lay each corner-stone.
Rise, stricken city! from thee throw
The ashen sackcloth of thy woe;
And build, as to Amphion's strain,
To songs of cheer thy walls again!
How shrivelled in thy hot distress
The primal sin of selfishness!
How instant rose, to take thy part,
The angel in the human heart!
Ah! not in vain the flames that tossed
Above thy dreadful holocaust;
The Christ again has preached through thee
The Gospel of Humanity!
Then lift once more thy towers on high,
And fret with spires the western sky,
To tell that God is yet with us,
And love is still miraculous!
Scheme | AABB CXDD EEFF GGHH IIJJ KKBC LLBX XMNN OOPP QQMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (70%) Etheree (25%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1111111 01110101 11110111 01010010 111111 1101111 11110101 01010111 11110101 011101111 110010101 01010101 010101110 110111110 11111111 01110101 11111101 01001111 00101001 01110111 11011101 01010111 1101111 11111101 11010111 0101111 011111 11111101 1101101 01011100 11011111 01000101 11010111 0111010 01011111 01010100 111111011 01110101 11111111 01110100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,420 |
Words | 260 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 114 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 31, 2023
- 1:18 min read
- 53 Views
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"Chicago" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22874/chicago>.
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