Analysis of Lines Suggested By The Last Words Of Berengarius. Ob. Anno Dom. 1088
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 (Ottery St Mary) – 1834 (Highgate)
No more 'twixt conscience staggering and the Pope
Soon shall I now before my God appear,
By him to be acquitted, as I hope;
By him to be condemned, as I fear.--
REFLECTION ON THE ABOVE
Lynx amid moles! had I stood by thy bed,
Be of good cheer, meek soul! I would have said:
I see a hope spring from that humble fear.
All are not strong alike through storms to steer
Right onward. What though dread of threatened death
And dungeon torture made thy hand and breath
Inconstant to the truth within thy heart?
That truth, from which, through fear, thou twice didst start,
Fear haply told thee, was a learned strife,
Or not so vital as to claim thy life:
And myriads had reached Heaven, who never knew
Where lay the difference 'twixt the false and true!
Ye, who secure 'mid trophies not your own,
Judge him who won them when he stood alone,
And proudly talk of recreant Berengare--
O first the age, and then the man compare!
That age how dark! congenial minds how rare!
No host of friends with kindred zeal did burn!
No throbbing hearts awaited his return!
Prostrate alike when prince and peasant fell,
He only disenchanted from the spell,
Like the weak worm that gems the starless night,
Moved in the scanty circlet of his light:
And was it strange if he withdrew the ray
That did but guide the night-birds to their prey?
The ascending day-star with a bolder eye
Hath lit each dew-drop on our trimmer lawn!
Yet not for this, if wise, will we decry
The spots and struggles of the timid Dawn;
Lest so we tempt the approaching Noon to scorn
The mists and painted vapours of our Morn.
Scheme | ABAB X CCBBDDEEFFGG HHBIIJJKKLLMM NONOPP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110100001 1111011101 1111010111 111101111 0101001 1011111111 1111111111 1101111101 1111011111 1101111101 0101011101 11010111 1111111111 11111011 1111011111 0111101101 11010010101 1101110111 1111111101 0101111 1101010101 1111010111 1111110111 1101010101 1001110101 1100010101 101111011 100101111 0111110101 1111011111 00101110101 11111110101 1111111101 0101010101 11110010111 0101011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,548 |
Words | 295 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 1, 12, 13, 6 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 247 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 58 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:28 min read
- 109 Views
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"Lines Suggested By The Last Words Of Berengarius. Ob. Anno Dom. 1088" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34274/lines-suggested-by-the-last-words-of-berengarius.-ob.-anno-dom.-1088>.
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