Analysis of A Prophecy: To George Keats In America
'Tis the witching hour of night,
Orbed is the moon and bright,
And the stars they glisten, glisten,
Seeming with bright eyes to listen --
For what listen they?
For a song and for a charm,
See they glisten in alarm,
And the moon is waxing warm
To hear what I shall say.
Moon! keep wide thy golden ears --
Hearken, stars! and hearken, spheres! --
Hearken, thou eternal sky!
I sing an infant's lullaby,
A pretty lullaby.
Listen, listen, listen, listen,
Glisten, glisten, glisten, glisten,
And hear my lullaby!
Though the rushes that will make
Its cradle still are in the lake --
Though the linen that will be
Its swathe, is on the cotton tree --
Though the woollen that will keep
It warm, is on the silly sheep --
Listen, starlight, listen, listen,
Glisten, glisten, glisten, glisten,
And hear my lullaby!
Child, I see thee! Child, I've found thee
Midst of the quiet all around thee!
And thy mother sweet is nigh thee!
But a Poet evermore!
See, see, the lyre, the lyre,
In a flame of fire,
Upon the little cradle's top
Flaring, flaring, flaring,
Past the eyesight's bearing,
Awake it from its sleep,
And see if it can keep
Its eyes upon the blaze --
Amaze, amaze!
It stares, it stares, it stares,
It dares what no one dares!
It lifts its little hand into the flame
Unharm'd, and on the strings
Paddles a little tune, and sings,
With dumb endeavour sweetly --
Bard art thou completely!
Little child
O' th' western wild,
Bard art thou completely!
Sweetly with dumb endeavour,
A Poet now or never,
Little child
O' th' western wild,
A Poet now or never!
Scheme | aabbcddecffgggbBGhhiijjbBGiiiklmnoojjppqqrssiITTImMTTM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10101011 110101 00111010 10111110 11101 1010101 1110001 0011101 111111 1111101 11011 110101 1111010 01010 10101010 10101010 01110 1010111 11011001 1010111 11110101 1010111 11110101 1011010 10101010 01110 11111111 110101011 01101111 101010 110101 001110 0101011 101010 10110 011111 011111 110101 0101 111111 111111 1111010101 010101 10010101 1101010 111010 101 111101 111010 1011010 0101110 101 111101 0101110 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,503 |
Words | 284 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 54 |
Lines Amount | 54 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,170 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 282 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 10, 2023
- 1:26 min read
- 141 Views
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"A Prophecy: To George Keats In America" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23332/a-prophecy%3A-to-george-keats-in-america>.
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