Analysis of Despondency -- An Ode
Robert Burns 1759 (Alloway) – 1796 (Dumfries)
Oppress'd with grief, oppress'd with care,
A burden more than I can bear,
I set me down and sigh:
O life! thou art a galling load,
Along a rough, a weary road,
To wretches such as I!
Dim backward as I cast my view,
What sick'ning scenes appear!
What sorrows yet may pierce me thro',
Too justly I may fear!
Still caring, despairing,
Must be my bitter doom;
My woes here shall close ne'er
But with the closing tomb!
Happy, ye sons of busy life,
Who, equal to the bustling strife,
No other view regard!
Ev'n when the wished end's denied,
Yet while the busy means are plied,
They bring their own reward:
Whilst I, a hope-abandon'd wight,
Unfitted with an aim,
Meet ev'ry sad returning night,
And joyless morn the same;
You, bustling, and justling,
Forget each grief and pain;
I, listless, yet restless,
Find every prospect vain.
How blest the Solitary's lot,
Who, all-forgetting, all-forgot,
Within his humble cell,
The cavern wild with tangling roots,
Sits o'er his newly-gather'd fruits,
Beside his crystal well!
Or, haply, to his ev'ning thought,
By unfrequented stream,
The ways of men are distant brought,
A faint collected dream:
While praising, and raising
His thoughts to heav'n on high,
As wand'ring, meand'ring,
He views the solemn sky.
Than I, no lonely hermit plac'd
Where never human footstep trac'd,
Less fit to play the part;
The lucky moment to improve,
And just to stop, and just to move,
With self-respecting art:
But ah! those pleasures, loves, and joys,
Which I too keenly taste,
The Solitary can despise,
Can want, and yet be blest!
He needs not, he heeds not,
Or human love or hate,
Whilst I here must cry here,
At perfidy ingrate!
Oh! enviable, early days,
When dancing thoughtless pleasure's maze,
To care, to guilt unknown!
How ill exchang'd for riper times,
To feel the follies, or the crimes
Of others, or my own !
Ye tiny elves that guiltless sport
Like linnets in the bush,
Ye little know the ills ye court,
When manhood is your wish!
The losses, the crosses,
That active man engage
The fears all, the tears all,
Of dim-declining age!
Scheme | AABCCBXDADEFAF GGXHHXIJIJEKXK LLMNNMOPOPEBEB QQRSSRXQXXLXXC TTUVVUWXWXXXXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (30%) |
Metre | 01110111 01011111 111101 11110101 01010101 11111 11011111 111101 11011111 110111 110010 111101 111111 110101 10111101 110101001 110101 11101101 11010111 111101 11010101 1111 1110101 01101 110001 011101 110110 1100101 11011 11010101 011101 01011101 110110101 011101 1111111 111 01111101 010101 110010 111111 1111 110101 11110101 1101011 111101 01010101 01110111 110101 11110101 111101 0100101 110111 111111 110111 111111 11001 11000101 1101011 111101 1101111 11010101 110111 11011101 11001 11010111 11111 010010 110101 011011 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 2,348 |
Words | 363 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 14, 14, 14, 14, 14 |
Lines Amount | 70 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 315 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 72 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:54 min read
- 162 Views
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"Despondency -- An Ode" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/30487/despondency----an-ode>.
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