Analysis of To Ailsa Rock

John Keats 1795 (Moorgate) – 1821 (Rome)



Hearken, thou craggy ocean-pyramid,
Give answer by thy voice—the sea-fowls' screams!
When were thy shoulders mantled in huge streams?
When from the sun was thy broad forehead hid?
How long is't since the mighty Power bid
Thee heave to airy sleep from fathom dreams—
Sleep in the lap of thunder or sunbeams—
Or when grey clouds are thy cold coverlid!
Thou answer'st not; for thou art dead asleep.
Thy life is but two dead eternities,
The last in air, the former in the deep!
First with the whales, last with the eagle-skies!
Drowned wast thou till an earthquake made thee steep,
Another cannot wake thy giant-size!


Scheme ABBAABBACBCDCD
Poetic Form
Metre 111010100 1101110111 101101011 1101111101 11111010101 1111011101 100111011 11111111 11011111101 1111111 0101010001 1101110101 111111111 0101011101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 616
Words 108
Sentences 9
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 483
Words per stanza (avg) 106
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

33 sec read
110

John Keats

John Keats was an English Romantic poet. more…

All John Keats poems | John Keats Books

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