Analysis of The Raven. Christmas Tale, Told By A School-Boy To His Little Brothers And Sisters
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 (Ottery St Mary) – 1834 (Highgate)
Underneath an old oak tree
There was of swine a huge company
That grunted as they crunched the mast
For that was ripe, and fell full fast.
Then they trotted away, for the wind grew high:
One acorn they left, and no more might you spy.
Next came a Raven, that liked not such folly
He belonged, they did say, to the witch Melancholy!
Blacker was he than blackest jet,
Flew low in the rain, and his feathers not wet
He picked up the acorn and buried it straight
By the side of a river both deep and great.
Where then did the Raven go?
He went high and low
Over hill, over dale, did the black Raven go.
Many Autumns, many Springs
Traveled he with wandering wings:
Many summers, many Winters
I can't tell half his adventures.
At length he came back, and with him a She
And the acorn was grown to a tall oak tree.
They built them a nest in the topmost bough,
And young ones they had, and were happy enow.
But soon came a Woodman in leathern guise,
His brow, like a pent-house, hung over his eyes.
He'd an axe in his hand, not a word he spoke,
But with many a hem! and a sturdy stroke,
At length he brought down the poor Raven's own oak.
His young ones were killed; for they could not depart,
And their mother did die of a broken heart.
The boughs from the trunk the Woodman did sever;
And they floated it down on the course of the river.
They sawed it in planks, and its bark they did strip,
And with this tree and others they made a good ship.
The ship, it was launched; but in sight of the land
Such a storm there did rise as no ship would withstand.
It bulged on a rock, and the waves rush'd in fast;
Round and round flew the Raven, and cawed to the blast.
He heard the last shriek of the perishing souls--
See! see! o'er the topmast the mad water rolls!
Right glad was the Raven, and off he went fleet,
And Death riding home on a cloud he did meet,
And he thank'd him again and again for this treat:
They had taken his all; and Revenge it was sweet!
Scheme | AABBCCAADDEEFFFGGHH AAXXIIJJJKKLLMMNNBBOO PPPP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011111 111101100 11011101 11110111 11100110111 11011011111 11010111110 101111101100 10111101 11001011011 11101001011 10110101101 1110101 11101 101101101101 101101 10111001 10101010 11111010 1111101101 00101110111 111010011 0111100101 111010011 11101111011 11101110111 11100100101 1111101111 11101111101 01101110101 01101010110 0110111011010 11101011111 011101011011 01111101101 101111111101 11101001101 101101001101 11011101001 11100101101 11101001111 01101101111 011101001111 111011001111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,912 |
Words | 388 |
Sentences | 22 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 19, 21, 4 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 498 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 129 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 02, 2023
- 1:58 min read
- 133 Views
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"The Raven. Christmas Tale, Told By A School-Boy To His Little Brothers And Sisters" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34361/the-raven.-christmas-tale%2C-told-by-a-school-boy-to-his-little-brothers-and-sisters>.
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