Analysis of To The Genius Of Africa
Robert Southey 1774 (Bristol) – 1843 (London)
O thou who from the mountain's height
Roll'st down thy clouds with all their weight
Of waters to old Niles majestic tide;
Or o'er the dark sepulchral plain
Recallest thy Palmyra's ancient pride,
Amid whose desolated domes
Secure the savage chacal roams,
Where from the fragments of the hallow'd fane
The Arabs rear their miserable homes!
Hear Genius hear thy children's cry!
Not always should'st thou love to brood
Stern o'er the desert solitude
Where seas of sand toss their hot surges high;
Nor Genius should the midnight song
Detain thee in some milder mood
The palmy plains among
Where Gambia to the torches light
Flows radiant thro' the awaken'd night.
Ah, linger not to hear the song!
Genius avenge thy children's wrong!
The Daemon COMMERCE on your shore
Pours all the horrors of his train,
And hark! where from the field of gore
Howls the hyena o'er the slain!
Lo! where the flaming village fires the skies!
Avenging Power awake--arise!
Arise thy children's wrong redress!
Ah heed the mother's wretchedness
When in the hot infectious air
O'er her sick babe she bows opprest--
Ah hear her when the Christians tear
The drooping infant from her breast!
Whelm'd in the waters he shall rest!
Hear thou the wretched mother's cries,
Avenging Power awake! arise!
By the rank infected air
That taints those dungeons of despair,
By those who there imprison'd die
Where the black herd promiscuous lie,
By the scourges blacken'd o'er
And stiff and hard with human gore,
By every groan of deep distress
By every curse of wretchedness,
By all the train of Crimes that flow
From the hopelessness of Woe,
By every drop of blood bespilt,
By Afric's wrongs and Europe's guilt,
Awake! arise! avenge!
And thou hast heard! and o'er their blood-fed plains
Swept thine avenging hurricanes;
And bade thy storms with whirlwind roar
Dash their proud navies on the shore;
And where their armies claim'd the fight
Wither'd the warrior's might;
And o'er the unholy host with baneful breath
There Genius thou hast breath'd the gales of Death.
So perish still the robbers of mankind!
What tho' from Justice bound and blind
Inhuman Power has snatch'd the sword!
What tho' thro' many an ignominious age
That Fiend with desolating rage
The tide of carnage pour'd!
Justice shall yet unclose her eyes,
Terrific yet in wrath arise,
And trample on the tyrant's breast,
And make Oppresion groan opprest.
Scheme | AXBCBDDCD EFFEGFXAA GGHCHCII JDKAKLLII KKEEXHJDMMAXX NNHHAAOO PPQRRQIILA |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110101 111111111 1101110101 1100111 111101 01111 0101011 1101010101 0101110001 11011101 11111111 11001010 1111111101 1101011 01101101 01101 110010101 1100100101 11011101 10011101 01010111 11010111 01110111 100101001 11010101001 010100101 01110101 110101 10010101 10011111 11010101 01010101 10010111 11010101 010100101 1010101 11110101 11110101 10111001 10101010 01011101 110011101 1100111 11011111 1010011 11001111 1110101 010101 01110101111 1101010 0111111 11110101 01110101 10011 01000101111 1101110111 1101010111 11110101 010101101 11110101001 11111 011101 1011101 01010101 0101011 01111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,342 |
Words | 404 |
Sentences | 25 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 8, 9, 13, 8, 10 |
Lines Amount | 66 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 270 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 57 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:10 min read
- 95 Views
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"To The Genius Of Africa" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/31916/to-the-genius-of-africa>.
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