Analysis of Erskine
John Le Gay Brereton 1871 (Sydney) – 1933
A singing voice is in my dream
The voice of Erskine, on his boulders,
Babbling and shouting till he shoulders
Stoutly against the heavier stream.
No longer now my curtained sight,
On serried books and pictures dwelling,
Of long-neglected work is telling,
But looks beyond the travelling night.
And here no longer is my home,
For you and I are far asunder:
I hear again the cascade thunder
And watch the little pool of foam.
And where the water, pouring sleek,
In sudden whiteness flings his treasure,
I see you sitting, Queen of Pleasure,
Clad only by the glittering creek.
I hold my arms to you once more,
For O my longing flesh is aching,
And you, your rocky throne forsaking,
Come cool and radiant to the shore.
I see my girl of girls recline
On smooth rock sloping to the water;
Then savagely have leapt and caught her,
And limpid eyes look up at mine.
Love, Love, O Love, the embracing sun,
The trees, the creek, the earth our mother,
Who made that hour, give such another,
And make us—see us—know us one.
Scheme | ABBA CDDC EFFE GFFG HDDH IFFI JFFJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 01011011 01111110 1000101110 100101001 1101111 11101010 110101110 110101001 01110111 110111010 110100110 01010111 01010101 010101110 111101110 110101001 11111111 111101110 011101010 110100101 11111101 111101010 110011010 0111111 111100101 0101011010 1111011010 01111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 995 |
Words | 186 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 113 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 55 sec read
- 29 Views
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"Erskine" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23668/erskine>.
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