Analysis of America to England
Katharine Lee Bates 1859 (Falmouth) – 1929 (Wellesley)
Who would trust England, let him lift his eyes
To Nelson, columned o'er Trafalgar Square,
Her hieroglyph of duty, written where
The roar of traffic hushes to the skies;
Or mark, while Paul's vast shadow softly lies
On Gordon's statued sleep, how praise and prayer
Flush through the frank young faces clustering there
To con that kindred rune of sacrifice.
O England, no bland cloud-ship in the blue,
But rough oak plunging on o'er perilous jars
Of reef and ice, our faith will follow you
The more for tempest roar that strains your spars
And splits your canvas, be your helm but true,
Your courses shapen by the eternal stars.
The nightmare melts at last, and London wakes
To her old habit of victorious ease.
More men, and more, and more for over-seas,
More guns until the giant hammer breaks
That patriot folk whom even God forsakes.
Shall not Great England work her will on these,
The foolish little nations, and appease
An angry shame that in her memory aches?
But far beyond the fierce-contested flood,
The cannon-planted pass, the shell-torn town,
The last wild carnival of fire and blood,
Beware, beware that dim and awful Shade,
Armored with Milton's sword and Cromwell's frown,
Affronted Freedom, of her own betrayed!
Scheme | ABBAABBXCDCACD EFFEAFFEGHGIHI |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111011111 11010100101 001110101 011101101 111111101 110111101 11011101001 111101110 1101111001 111101101001 11011011101 0111011111 0111011111 1101100101 011110101 10110101001 1101011101 1101010101 1100111011 1111010111 0101010001 11011001001 1101010101 0101010111 01110011001 0101110101 101110101 0101010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,237 |
Words | 213 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 14, 14 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 487 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 105 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:05 min read
- 58 Views
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"America to England" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/24844/america-to-england>.
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