Analysis of To The Honourable T. H. Esq; On the Death Of His Daughter
Phillis Wheatley 1753 (West Africa) – 1784 (Boston)
WHILE deep you mourn beneath the cypress-shade
The hand of Death, and your dear daughter
laid
In dust, whose absence gives your tears to flow,
And racks your bosom with incessant woe,
Let Recollection take a tender part,
Assuage the raging tortures of your heart,
Still the wild tempest of tumultuous grief,
And pour the heav'nly nectar of relief:
Suspend the sigh, dear Sir, and check the groan,
Divinely bright your daughter's Virtues shone:
How free from scornful pride her gentle mind,
Which ne'er its aid to indigence declin'd!
Expanding free, it sought the means to prove
Unfailing charity, unbounded love!
She unreluctant flies to see no more
Her dear-lov'd parents on earth's dusky shore:
Impatient heav'n's resplendent goal to gain,
She with swift progress cuts the azure plain,
Where grief subsides, where changes are no more,
And life's tumultuous billows cease to roar;
She leaves her earthly mansion for the skies,
Where new creations feast her wond'ring eyes.
To heav'n's high mandate cheerfully resign'd
She mounts, and leaves the rolling globe behind;
She, who late wish'd that Leonard might return,
Has ceas'd to languish, and forgot to mourn;
To the same high empyreal mansions come,
She joins her spouse, and smiles upon the tomb:
And thus I hear her from the realms above:
"Lo! this the kingdom of celestial love!
"Could ye, fond parents, see our present bliss,
"How soon would you each sigh, each fear dismiss?
"Amidst unutter'd pleasures whilst I play
"In the fair sunshine of celestial day,
"As far as grief affects an happy soul
"So far doth grief my better mind controul,
"To see on earth my aged parents mourn,
"And secret wish for T-----! to return:
"Let brighter scenes your ev'ning-hours employ:
"Converse with heav'n, and taste the promis'd joy"
Scheme | ABACCDDEEFFGGHIJJKKJJLLGGMNOPIIQQRRSCNMTT |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111010101 011101110 1 0111011111 0111010101 101010101 0101010111 1011011001 010110101 0101110101 0101110101 1111010101 11111101 0101110111 0101000101 1111111 011101111 0101010111 111110101 1101110111 0110010111 1101010101 1101010111 111110001 1101010101 1111110101 1111000111 10111101 1101010101 0111010101 1101010101 11110110101 1111111101 01110111 001110101 1111011101 111111011 111111101 010111101 11011111001 1011010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,751 |
Words | 298 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 41 |
Lines Amount | 41 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,392 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 296 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 08, 2023
- 1:35 min read
- 124 Views
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"To The Honourable T. H. Esq; On the Death Of His Daughter" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29392/to-the-honourable-t.-h.-esq%3B-on-the-death-of-his-daughter>.
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