Analysis of The Old Unrest.

Robert Crawford 1959 (Bellshill)



That which made us seems to fret
Like a pang within us yet,
As if we unfinished were,
Such blind gropings in us stir,
As light in an eye grown dim
That can no more finely limn
All the senses would impart
To the sad, mysterious heart,
Or an ear grown taut that can
No more tune the tones of man.
We are still such troubled elves,
As we were beside ourselves —
One with Him, it may be, who
Is as vexed as we are too
With a mystic malady
Running through Eternity!


Scheme AABBCDEEDDFFGGHH
Poetic Form
Metre 1111111 1010111 1110100 111011 1101111 1111101 1010101 10101001 1111111 1110111 1111101 11001001 1111111 1111111 1010100 1010100
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 455
Words 96
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 356
Words per stanza (avg) 94
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

28 sec read
400

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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