Analysis of The Last Buccaneer



The winds were yelling, the waves were swelling,
The sky was black and drear,
When the crew with eyes of flame brought the ship without a name
Alongside the last Buccaneer.

"Whence flies your sloop full sail before so fierce a gale,
When all others drive bare on the seas?
Say, come ye from the shore of the holy Salvador,
Or the gulf of the rich Caribbees?"

"From a shore no search hath found, from a gulf no line can sound,
Without rudder or needle we steer;
Above, below, our bark, dies the sea-fowl and the shark,
As we fly by the last Buccaneer.

"To-night there shall be heard on the rocks of Cape de Verde,
A loud crash, and a louder roar;
And to-morrow shall the deep, with a heavy moaning, sweep
The corpses and wreck to the shore."

The stately ship of Clyde securely now may ride,
In the breath of the citron shades;
And Severn's towering mast securely now flies fast,
Through the sea of the balmy Trades.

From St Jago's wealthy port, from Havannah's royal fort,
The seaman goes forth without fear;
For since that stormy night not a mortal hath had sight
Of the flag of the last Buccaneer.


Scheme XAXA XBAB XAXA XAXA XCXC XAXA
Poetic Form Quatrain  (67%)
Metre 0101001010 011101 10111111010101 0110101 111111011101 111011101 111101101010 1011011 10111111011111 011011011 01011011011001 11110101 11111110111110 01100101 01101011010101 01001101 010111010111 00110101 011001010111 10110101 11110111101 01011011 1111011010111 10110101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,106
Words 208
Sentences 8
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 142
Words per stanza (avg) 34
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:02 min read
112

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