Analysis of The Poor Girl's Meditation

Padraic Colum 1881 (County Longford) – 1972 (Enfield)



I AM sitting here
Since the moon rose in the night,
Kindling a fire,
And striving to keep it alight;
The folk of the house are lying
In slumber deep;
The geese will be gabbling soon:
The whole of the land is asleep.

May I never leave this world
Until my ill-luck is gone;
Till I have cows and sheep,
And the lad that I love for my own;
I would not think it long,
The night I would lie at his breast,
And the daughters of spite, after that,
Might say the thing they liked best.

Love takes the place of hate,
If a girl have beauty at all:
On a bed that was narrow and high,
A three-month I lay by the wall:
When I bethought on the lad
That I left on the brow of the hill,
I wept from dark until dark,
And my cheeks have the tear-tracks still.

And, O young lad that I love,
I am no mark for your scorn;
All you can say of me is
Undowered I was born:
And if I've no fortune in hand,
Nor cattle and sheep of my own,
This I can say, O lad,
I am fitted to lie my lone!


Scheme XAXAXBXB XXBCXDXD XEXEFGXG XHXHXCFC
Poetic Form
Metre 11101 1011001 10010 01011101 01101110 0101 011111 01101101 1110111 0111111 111101 001111111 111111 01111111 001011101 1101111 110111 10111011 101111001 01111101 111101 111101101 1111011 01110111 0111111 1111111 1111111 1111 01111001 11001111 111111 11101111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 938
Words 207
Sentences 5
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 181
Words per stanza (avg) 51
Font size:
 

Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:02 min read
54

Padraic Colum

Padraic Colum was an Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer, playwright, children's author and collector of folklore. more…

All Padraic Colum poems | Padraic Colum Books

1 fan

Discuss this Padraic Colum poem analysis with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "The Poor Girl's Meditation" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28516/the-poor-girl%27s-meditation>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    April 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    2
    days
    2
    hours
    31
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    The repetition of vowel sounds is an example of _______.
    A repetition
    B rhyme
    C rhythm
    D assonance