Analysis of River of Life, The
Thomas Campbell 1777 (Glasgow) – 1844 (Boulogne-sur-Mer)
The more we live, more brief appear
Our life's succeeding stages;
A day to childhood seems a year,
And years like passing ages.
The gladsome current of our youth,
Ere passion yet disorders,
Steals lingering like a river smooth
Along its grassy borders.
But as the careworn cheek grows wan,
And sorrow's shafts fly thicker,
Ye stars, that measure life to man,
Why seem your courses quicker?
When joys have lost their bloom and breath,
And life itself is vapid,
Why, as we reach the Falls of Death
Feel we its tide more rapid?
It may be strange—yet who would change
Time's course to slower speeding,
When one by one our friends have gone,
And left our bosoms bleeding?
Heaven gives our years of fading strength
Indemnifying fleetness;
And those of youth, a seeming length,
Proportion'd to their sweetness.
Scheme | ABAB XCXC XDXD EXEX XFXF GBGX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (83%) |
Metre | 01111101 10101010 0111101 0111010 01101101 1101010 110010101 0111010 1101111 011110 11110111 1111010 11111101 0101110 11110111 1111110 11111111 1111010 111110111 0110110 1011011101 00101 01110101 0101110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 807 |
Words | 141 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 106 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 43 sec read
- 124 Views
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