Analysis of Thomas À Kempis
Lizette Woodworth Reese 1856 (Waverly) – 1935
Brother of mine, good monk with cowlëd head,
Walled from that world which thou hast long since fled,
And pacing thy green close beyond the sea,
I send my heart to thee.
Down gust-sweet walks, bordered by lavender,
While eastward, westward, the mad swallows whir,
All afternoon poring thy missal fair,
Serene thou pacest there.
Mixed with the words and fitting like a tune,
Thou hearest distantly the voice of June,—
The little, gossipping noises in the grass,
The bees that come and pass.
Fades the long day; the pool behind the hedge
Burns like a rose within the windy sedge;
The lilies ghostlier grow in the dim air;
The convent windows flare.
Yet still thou lingerest; from pastures steep,
Past the barred gate the shepherd drives his sheep;
A nightingale breaks forth, and for a space
Makes sweeter the sweet place.
Then the gray monks by hooded twos and threes
Move chapelward beneath the flaming trees;
Closing thy book, back by the alleys fair
Thou followest to prayer.
Born to these brawling days, this work-sick age,
Oft long I for thy simpler heritage;
A thought of thee is like a breath of bloom
Blown through a noisy room.
For thou art quick, not dead. I picture thee
Forever in that close beyond the sea;
And find, despite this weather’s headlong stir,
Peace and a comforter.
Scheme | AABB CCDD EEFF GGDD HHII JJDD XXKK BBCC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (88%) |
Metre | 1011111111 1111111111 0101110101 111111 1111101100 1101001101 101101101 01111 1101010101 1110111 010110001 011101 1011010101 1101010101 010110011 010101 11111101 1011010111 0100110101 110011 1011110101 11010101 1011110101 1111 1111011111 11111100100 0111110111 110101 1111111101 0100110101 010111011 100100 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,270 |
Words | 229 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 127 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 28 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:08 min read
- 86 Views
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"Thomas À Kempis" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25871/thomas-%C3%80-kempis>.
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