Analysis of Hymn To Apollo

John Keats 1795 (Moorgate) – 1821 (Rome)



GOD of the golden bow,
      And of the golden lyre,
And of the golden hair,
      And of the golden fire,
            Charioteer
            Of the patient year,
      Where---where slept thine ire,
When like a blank idiot I put on thy wreath,
      Thy laurel, thy glory,
      The light of thy story,
Or was I a worm---too low crawling for death?
      O Delphic Apollo!

The Thunderer grasp'd and grasp'd,
      The Thunderer frown'd and frown'd;
The eagle's feathery mane
      For wrath became stiffen'd---the sound
            Of breeding thunder
            Went drowsily under,
      Muttering to be unbound.
O why didst thou pity, and beg for a worm?
      Why touch thy soft lute
      Till the thunder was mute,
Why was I not crush'd---such a pitiful germ?
      O Delphic Apollo!

The Pleiades were up,
      Watching the silent air;
The seeds and roots in Earth
      Were swelling for summer fare;
            The Ocean, its neighbour,
            Was at his old labour,
      When, who---who did dare
To tie for a moment, thy plant round his brow,
      And grin and look proudly,
      And blaspheme so loudly,
And live for that honour, to stoop to thee now?
      O Delphic Apollo!


Scheme abcdbxbxeexF xgxgddghiihF xcxcbxcaeeaF
Poetic Form
Metre 110101 010101 010101 0101010 1 10101 11111 110110011111 110110 011110 11101111011 110010 01101 01101 0101001 11011001 11010 1110 1001101 11111001101 11111 101011 11111101001 110010 01001 100101 010101 0101101 01011 11111 11111 11101011111 010110 01110 0111111111 110010
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,170
Words 186
Sentences 9
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 12, 12, 12
Lines Amount 36
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 259
Words per stanza (avg) 61
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 25, 2023

57 sec read
311

John Keats

John Keats was an English Romantic poet. more…

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