Analysis of The Old Gods.



O ye gods, if you could tell us
What ye are — if banned or blest —
Ye that reigned of old in Hellas!
Ye that ruled the radiant West!
Old-born gods! The Past still flashes
In the eyes of Greece and Rome;
Ye are not mere dust and ashes
Urned for all the years to come.
Ye that ruled in heavenly places,
And the faith of mortals won!
Gods created by old races
Perished from beneath the sun;
Born of faith, and with it blended,
Ye shall yet the world inspire
Till the last breath has ascended
From the latest altar fire.
All the hopes and invocations
Breathed by lips of heroes dead,
All the genius of the nations
Who the march of Freedom led —
Though your temples broke and fell as
Dusty fanes of little worth —
These will keep you, gods of Hellas!
Still alive upon the earth.


Scheme ABABCDEFEGEGHIHJAKLKMNAN
Poetic Form
Metre 11111111 1111111 1111101 11101001 11101110 0011101 11111010 1110111 111010010 0011101 10101110 1010101 11101110 1110101 10111010 10101010 10101 1111101 10101010 1011101 11101011 1011101 1111111 1010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 766
Words 154
Sentences 9
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 24
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 601
Words per stanza (avg) 152
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 14, 2023

46 sec read
114

Robert Crawford

Robert Crawford FRSE FBA is a Scottish poet, scholar and critic. He is currently Professor of English at the University of St Andrews.  more…

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