Analysis of The Hunter's Serenade
William Cullen Bryant 1794 (Cummington) – 1878 (New York City)
Thy bower is finished, fairest!
Fit bower for hunter's bride--
Where old woods overshadow
The green savanna's side.
I've wandered long, and wandered far,
And never have I met,
In all this lovely western land,
A spot so lovely yet.
But I shall think it fairer,
When thou art come to bless,
With thy sweet smile and silver voice,
Its silent loveliness.
For thee the wild grape glistens,
On sunny knoll and tree,
The slim papaya ripens
Its yellow fruit for thee.
For thee the duck, on glassy stream,
The prairie-fowl shall die,
My rifle for thy feast shall bring
The wild swan from the sky.
The forest's leaping panther,
Fierce, beautiful, and fleet,
Shall yield his spotted hide to be
A carpet for thy feet.
I know, for thou hast told me,
Thy maiden love of flowers;
Ah, those that deck thy gardens
Are pale compared with ours.
When our wide woods and mighty lawns
Bloom to the April skies,
The earth has no more gorgeous sight
To show to human eyes.
In meadows red with blossoms,
All summer long, the bee
Murmurs, and loads his yellow thighs,
For thee, my love, and me.
Or wouldst thou gaze at tokens
Of ages long ago--
Our old oaks stream with mosses,
And sprout with mistletoe;
And mighty vines, like serpents, climb
The giant sycamore;
And trunks, o'erthrown for centuries,
Cumber the forest floor;
And in the great savanna,
The solitary mound,
Built by the elder world, o'erlooks
The loneliness around.
Come, thou hast not forgotten
Thy pledge and promise quite,
With many blushes murmured,
Beneath the evening light.
Come, the young violets crowd my door,
Thy earliest look to win,
And at my silent window-sill
The jessamine peeps in.
All day the red-bird warbles,
Upon the mulberry near,
And the night-sparrow trills her song,
All night, with none to hear.
Scheme | XABAXCXCDEXE EFEFXGXGDHFH FIJIXKLKXFKF JBXBXMXMXNEN XLXLMOXOXXXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (33%) |
Metre | 11011010 1101101 1111010 0111 11010101 010111 01110101 011101 1111110 111111 11110101 1101 110111 110101 010101 110111 11011101 010111 11011111 011101 0101010 110001 11110111 010111 1111111 1101110 1111110 1101110 110110101 110101 01111101 111101 011110 110101 10011101 111101 1111110 110101 10111110 01110 01011101 01010 0111100 100101 0001010 01001 1101011 010001 1111010 110101 1101010 010101 101100111 1100111 01110101 010010 1101110 010101 00110101 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,710 |
Words | 312 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 12, 12, 12, 12 |
Lines Amount | 60 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 275 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 62 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:35 min read
- 29 Views
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"The Hunter's Serenade" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40355/the-hunter%27s-serenade>.
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