Analysis of Herbs
Lizette Woodworth Reese 1856 (Waverly) – 1935
A serviceable thing
Is fennel, mint, or balm,
Kept in the thrifty calm
Of hollows, in the spring;
Or by old houses pent.
Dear is its ancient scent
To folk that love the days forgot,
Nor think that God is not.
Sage, lavender, and rue,
For body’s hurt and ill,
For fever and for chill;
Rosemary, strange with dew,
For sorrow and its smart,
For breaking of the heart.
Yet pain, dearth, tears, all come to dust,
As even the herbs must.
Life-everlasting, too,
Windless, poignant, and sere,
That blows in the old year,
Townsmen, for me and you.
Why fret for wafting airs?
Why haste to sell our wares?
Captains and clerks, this shall befall;
This is the end of all.
Oh, this the end indeed!
Oh, unforgotten things,
Gone out of all the springs;
The quest, the dream, the creed!
Gone out of all the lands,
And yet safe in God’s hands; —
For shall the dull herbs live again,
And not the sons of men?
Scheme | ABBACCDD EFFEGGHH EIIEJJKK LM MLNNOO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 010001 110111 100101 110001 111101 111101 11110101 111111 110001 11101 110011 10111 110011 110101 11111111 110011 10101 11001 110011 11101 111101 1111101 10011101 110111 110101 111 111101 010101 111101 011011 11011101 010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 872 |
Words | 170 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 2, 6 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 134 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 34 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 94 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Herbs" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25855/herbs>.
Discuss this Lizette Woodworth Reese poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In