Analysis of Kenoza Lake
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)
As Adam did in Paradise,
To-day the primal right we claim
Fair mirror of the woods and skies,
We give to thee a name.
Lake of the pickerel!--let no more
The echoes answer back, 'Great Pond,'
But sweet Kenoza, from thy shore
And watching hills beyond,
Let Indian ghosts, if such there be
Who ply unseen their shadowy lines,
Call back the ancient name to thee,
As with the voice of pines.
The shores we trod as barefoot boys,
The nutted woods we wandered through,
To friendship, love, and social joys
We consecrate anew.
Here shall the tender song be sung,
And memory's dirges soft and low,
And wit shall sparkle on the tongue,
And mirth shall overflow,
Harmless as summer lightning plays
From a low, hidden cloud by night,
A light to set the hills ablaze,
But not a bolt to smite.
In sunny South and prairied West
Are exiled hearts remembering still,
As bees their hive, as birds their nest,
The homes of Haverhill.
They join us in our rites to-day;
And, listening, we may hear, erelong,
From inland lake and ocean bay,
The echoes of our song.
Kenoza! o'er no sweeter lake
Shall morning break or noon-cloud sail,--
No fairer face than thine shall take
The sunset's golden veil.
Long be it ere the tide of trade
Shall break with harsh-resounding din
The quiet of thy banks of shade,
And hills that fold thee in.
Still let thy woodlands hide the hare,
The shy loon sound his trumpet-note,
Wing-weary from his fields of air,
The wild-goose on thee float.
Thy peace rebuke our feverish stir,
Thy beauty our deforming strife;
Thy woods and waters minister
The healing of their life.
And sinless Mirth, from care released,
Behold, unawed, thy mirrored sky,
Smiling as smiled on Cana's feast
The Master's loving eye.
And when the summer day grows dim,
And light mists walk thy mimic sea,
Revive in us the thought of Him
Who walked on Galilee!
Scheme | XAXA BCBC DEDE FGFG HIHI JXJC KXKI LHLX MNMN OPOP QRQR STST UVUV WDWD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1101010 11010111 11010101 111101 110100111 01010111 111111 010101 110011111 110111001 11010111 110111 0111111 0111101 11010101 11001 11010111 011101 01110101 01110 10110101 10110111 01110101 110111 0101011 11101001 11111111 0111 111010111 01001111 1110101 0101101 1101101 11011111 11011111 01101 11110111 11110101 01011111 011110 1111101 01111101 11011111 011111 1101101001 1101011 11010100 010111 0111101 0111101 1011111 010101 01010111 01111101 01010111 11110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,787 |
Words | 334 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 14 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 102 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:41 min read
- 46 Views
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"Kenoza Lake" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22950/kenoza-lake>.
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