Analysis of The Living Lost
William Cullen Bryant 1794 (Cummington) – 1878 (New York City)
Matron! the children of whose love,
Each to his grave, in youth have passed,
And now the mould is heaped above
The dearest and the last!
Bride! who dost wear the widow's veil
Before the wedding flowers are pale!
Ye deem the human heart endures
No deeper, bitterer grief than yours.
Yet there are pangs of keener wo,
Of which the sufferers never speak,
Nor to the world's cold pity show
The tears that scald the cheek,
Wrung from their eyelids by the shame
And guilt of those they shrink to name,
Whom once they loved, with cheerful will,
And love, though fallen and branded, still.
Weep, ye who sorrow for the dead,
Thus breaking hearts their pain relieve;
And graceful are the tears ye shed,
And honoured ye who grieve.
The praise of those who sleep in earth,
The pleasant memory of their worth,
The hope to meet when life is past,
Shall heal the tortured mind at last.
But ye, who for the living lost
That agony in secret bear,
Who shall with soothing words accost
The strength of your despair?
Grief for your sake is scorn for them
Whom ye lament and all condemn;
And o'er the world of spirits lies
A gloom from which ye turn your eyes.
Scheme | ABABCCDD EFEFGGHH IJIJ KKBB LMLMNNOO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10010111 11110111 01011101 010001 11110101 010101011 11010101 1101111 11111101 110100101 11011101 011101 1111101 01111111 11111101 011100101 11110101 11011101 01010111 01111 01111101 010100111 01111111 11010111 11110101 11000101 11110101 011101 11111111 11010101 010011101 01111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,116 |
Words | 214 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 4, 4, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 179 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:05 min read
- 45 Views
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