Analysis of The Sea-Shore
Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 (Chelsea) – 1838 (Cape Coast)
I SHOULD like to dwell where the deep blue sea
Rock'd to and fro as tranquilly,
As if it were willing the halcyon's nest
Should shelter through summer its beautiful guest.
When a plaining murmur like that of a song,
And a silvery line come the waves along:
Now bathing—now leaving the gentle shore,
Where shining sea-shells lay scattered o'er.
And children wandering along the strand,
With the eager eye and the busy hand,
Heaping the pebbles and green sea-weed,
Like treasures laid up for a time of need.
Or tempting the waves with their daring feet,
To launch, perhaps, some tiny fleet:
Mimicking those which bear afar
The wealth of trade—and the strength of war.
I should love, when the sun-set reddened the foam,
To watch the fisherman's boat come home,
With his well-filled net and glittering spoil:
Well has the noon-tide repaid its toil.
While the ships that lie in the distance away
Catch on their canvass the crimsoning ray;
Like fairy ships in the tales of old,
When the sails they spread were purple and gold.
Then the deep delight of the starry night,
With its shadowy depths and dreamy light:
When far away spreads the boundless sea,
As if it imaged infinity.
Let me hear the winds go singing by,
Lulling the waves with their melody:
While the moon like a mother watches their sleep,
And I ask no home but beside the deep.
Scheme | ABCCDDEX FFGGHHXE IIBBJJKK LLAAXAMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111110111 110111 111010011 11011011001 1011011101 00100110101 1101100101 1101111010 0101000101 1010100101 100100111 1101110111 1100111101 11011101 10011101 011100111 1111011101 110100111 1111101001 110110111 10111001001 11110011 110100111 1011101001 1010110101 1110010101 110110101 11110100 111011101 100111100 10110101011 0111110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,317 |
Words | 240 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 264 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 60 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 24, 2023
- 1:13 min read
- 61 Views
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"The Sea-Shore" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Sep. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25727/the-sea-shore>.
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