Analysis of The Lamp of Life
Amy Lowell 1874 (Brookline) – 1925 (Brookline)
Always we are following a light,
Always the light recedes; with groping hands
We stretch toward this glory, while the lands
We journey through are hidden from our sight
Dim and mysterious, folded deep in night,
We care not, all our utmost need demands
Is but the light, the light! So still it stands
Surely our own if we exert our might.
Fool! Never can'st thou grasp this fleeting gleam,
Its glowing flame would die if it were caught,
Its value is that it doth always seem
But just a little farther on. Distraught,
But lighted ever onward, we are brought
Upon our way unknowing, in a dream.
Scheme | ABBAABBACDCEEC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110001 101011101 1101110101 11011101101 10010010101 1111101101 1101011111 101011101101 11011111101 1101111101 110111111 1101010101 1101010111 01101010001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 599 |
Words | 110 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 466 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 108 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 33 sec read
- 145 Views
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"The Lamp of Life" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/2324/the-lamp-of-life>.
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