Analysis of The North Star Whispers to the Blacksmith's Son
Vachel Lindsay 1879 (Springfield) – 1931 (Springfield)
The North Star whispers: "You are one
Of those whose course no chance can change.
You blunder, but are not undone,
Your spirit-task is fixed and strange.
"When here you walk, a bloodless shade,
A singer all men else forget.
Your chants of hammer, forge and spade
Will move the prarie-village yet.
"That young, stiff-necked, reviling town
Beholds your fancies on her walls,
And paints them out or tears them down,
Or bars them from her feasting halls.
"Yet shall the fragments still remain;
Yet shall remain some watch-tower strong
That ivy-vines will not disdain,
Haunted and trembling with your song.
"Your flambeau in the dusk shall burn,
Flame high in storms, flame white and clear;
Your ghost in gleaming robes return
And burn a deathless incense here."
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IXIX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (80%) Etheree (30%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 01110111 11111111 11011101 11011101 11110101 01011101 11110101 1101101 111111 1110101 01111111 11110101 11010101 110111101 11011101 100100111 1100111 11011101 11010101 0101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 765 |
Words | 131 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 119 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 104 Views
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