Analysis of America, A Prophecy
William Blake 1757 (Soho) – 1827 (London)
The shadowy Daughter of Urthona stood before red Orc,
When fourteen suns had faintly journey'd o'er his dark abode:
His food she brought in iron baskets, his drink in cups of iron:
Crown'd with a helmet and dark hair the nameless female stood;
A quiver with its burning stores, a bow like that of night,
When pestilence is shot from heaven: no other arms she need!
Invulnerable though naked, save where clouds roll round her loins
Their awful folds in the dark air: silent she stood as night;
For never from her iron tongue could voice or sound arise,
But dumb till that dread day when Orc assay'd his fierce embrace.
'Dark Virgin,' said the hairy youth, 'thy father stern, abhorr'd,
Rivets my tenfold chains while still on high my spirit soars;
Sometimes an Eagle screaming in the sky, sometimes a Lion
Stalking upon the mountains, and sometimes a Whale, I lash
The raging fathomless abyss; anon a Serpent folding
Around the pillars of Urthona, and round thy dark limbs
On the Canadian wilds I fold; feeble my spirit folds,
For chain'd beneath I rend these caverns: when thou bringest food
I howl my joy, and my red eyes seek to behold thy face--
In vain! these clouds roll to and fro, and hide thee from my sight.'
Silent as despairing love, and strong as jealousy,
The hairy shoulders rend the links; free are the wrists of fire;
Round the terrific loins he seiz'd the panting, struggling womb;
It joy'd: she put aside her clouds and smiled her first-born smile,
As when a black cloud shews its lightnings to the silent deep.
Soon as she saw the terrible boy, then burst the virgin cry:
'I know thee, I have found thee, and I will not let thee go:
Thou art the image of God who dwells in darkness of Africa,
And thou art fall'n to give me life in regions of dark death.
On my American plains I feel the struggling afflictions
Endur'd by roots that writhe their arms into the nether deep.
I see a Serpent in Canada who courts me to his love,
In Mexico an Eagle, and a Lion in Peru;
I see a Whale in the south-sea, drinking my soul away.
O what limb-rending pains I feel! thy fire and my frost
Mingle in howling pains, in furrows by thy lightnings rent.
This is eternal death, and this the torment long foretold.'
Scheme | AXXXBXCBCCXCXXACCXCB CXXXD X AAXCDXXXXXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0100101110111 111111010101101 1111010101101110 1101001101011 01011101011111 110011110110111 010001101111101 11010011101111 11010101111101 1111111111101 11010101110101 1011111111101 011101000101010 10010100010111 010101101010 010101101111 100100111101101 1101111101111 11110111110111 01111101011111 1010101011100 010101011101110 100101110101001 11110101010111 11011111010101 111101001110101 11111110111111 1101011110101100 011111111010111 1101001110100010 01111111010101 110100100111111 0101100010001 11010011101101 11110111110011 1001010111101 1101010101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 2,297 |
Words | 411 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 20, 5, 1, 11 |
Lines Amount | 37 |
Letters per line (avg) | 47 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 433 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 102 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 2:05 min read
- 1,030 Views
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"America, A Prophecy" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39087/america%2C-a-prophecy>.
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