Analysis of The Abbot Of Innisfallen
William Allingham 1824 (Ballyshannon) – 1889 (Hampstead)
The Abbot of Innisfallen
awoke ere dawn of day;
Under the dewy green leaves
went he forth to pray.
The lake around his island
lay smooth and dark and deep,
And wrapt in a misty stillness
the mountains were all asleep.
Low kneel'd the Abbot Cormac
when the dawn was dim and gray;
The prayers of his holy office
he faithfully 'gan say.
Low kneel'd the Abbot Cormac
while the dawn was waxing red;
And for his sins' forgiveness
a solemn prayer he said:
Low kneel'd that holy Abbot
while the dawn was waxing clear;
And he pray'd with loving-kindness
for his convent-brethren dear.
Low kneel'd that blessed Abbot
while the dawn was waxing bright;
He pray'd a great prayer for Ireland,
he pray'd with all his might.
Low kneel'd that good old Father
while the sun began to dart;
He pray'd a prayer for all men,
he pray'd it from his heart.
His blissful soul was in Heaven,
tho' a breathing man was he;
He was out of time's dominion,
so far as the living may be.
The Abbot of Innisfallen
arose upon his feet;
He heard a small bird singing,
and O but it sung sweet!
It sung upon a holly-bush,
this little snow-white bird;
A song so full of gladness
he never before had heard.
It sung upon a hazel,
it sung upon a thorn;
He had never heard such music
since the hour that he was born.
It sung upon a sycamore,
it sung upon a briar;
To follow the song and hearken
this Abbot could never tire.
Till at last he well bethought him;
he might no longer stay;
So he bless'd the little white singing-bird,
and gladly went his way.
But, when he came to his Abbey,
he found a wondrous change;
He saw no friendly faces there,
for every face was strange.
The strange men spoke unto him;
and he heard from all and each
The foreign tongue of the Sassenach,
not wholesome Irish speech.
Then the oldest monk came forward,
in Irish tongue spake he:
'Thou wearest the holy Augustine's dress,
and who hath given it to thee?'
'I wear the Augustine's dress,
and Cormac is my name,
The Abbot of this good Abbey
by grace of God I am.
I went forth to pray, at the dawn of day;
and when my prayers were said,
I hearken'd awhile to a little bird,
that sung above my head.'
The monks to him made answer,
'Two hundred years have gone o'er,
Since our Abbot Cormac went through the gate,
and never was heard of more.
Matthias now is our Abbot,
and twenty have pass'd away.
The stranger is lord of Ireland;
we live in an evil day.'
'Days will come and go,' he said,
'and the world will pass away,
In Heaven a day is a thousand years,
a thousand years are a day.'
'Now give me absolution;
for my time is come,' said he.
And they gave him absolution,
as speedily as might be.
Then, close outside the window,
the sweetest song they heard
That ever yet since the world began
was utter'd by any bird.
The monks look'd out and saw the bird,
its feathers all white and clean;
And there in a moment, beside it,
another white bird was seen.
Those two they sang together,
waved their white wings, and fled;
Flew aloft, and vanish'd;
but the good old man was dead.
They buried his blessed body
where lake and green-sward meet;
A carven cross above his head,
a holly-bush at his feet;
Where spreads the beautiful water
to gay or cloudy skies,
And the purple peaks of Killarney
from ancient woods arise.
Scheme | AbcbdefeGbfbGhfhijfjikdklmamanan Aoxopqcqxaxarlalsbqb ntxtsupuqnvnvxnxbhqhllxribdbhbxbananxqaqqaxalhxhnoholwaw |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01011 011111 1001011 11111 0101110 110101 01001010 0100101 1101010 1011101 01111010 110011 1101010 1011101 0111010 010111 1111010 1011101 01111010 1110101 111110 1011101 110111100 111111 1111110 1010111 1101111 111111 11011010 1010111 11111010 11101011 01011 010111 1101110 011111 11010101 110111 011111 1100111 1101010 110101 11101110 10101111 1101010 1101010 1100101 11011010 1111111 111101 1110101101 010111 11111110 110101 11110101 1100111 0111101 0111101 0101101 110101 10101110 010111 1101011 01110111 11011 010111 01011110 111111 1111110111 011101 110110101 110111 0111110 11011110 11010101101 0101111 010111010 0101101 010111100 1101101 1110111 0011101 0100110101 0101101 111010 1111111 0111010 1100111 1111010 010111 110110101 1101101 01110101 1101101 010010011 0101111 1111010 111101 101010 1011111 1101110 110111 0110111 0101111 11010010 111101 0010111 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,148 |
Words | 621 |
Sentences | 28 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 32, 20, 56 |
Lines Amount | 108 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 833 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 204 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:10 min read
- 56 Views
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"The Abbot Of Innisfallen" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39019/the-abbot-of-innisfallen>.
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