Analysis of William Tell
William Cullen Bryant 1794 (Cummington) – 1878 (New York City)
Chains may subdue the feeble spirit, but thee,
Tell, of the iron heart! they could not tame!
For thou wert of the mountains; they proclaim
The everlasting creed of liberty.
That creed is written on the untrampled snow,
Thundered by torrents which no power can hold,
Save that of God, when he sends forth his cold,
And breathed by winds that through the free heaven blow.
Thou, while thy prison walls were dark around,
Didst meditate the lesson Nature taught,
And to thy brief captivity was brought
A vision of thy Switzerland unbound.
The bitter cup they mingled, strengthened thee
For the great work to set thy country free.
Scheme | ABBACDDCEFFEAA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010101011 1101011111 1111010101 001011100 111101011 10110111011 1111111111 01111101101 1111010101 110010101 0111010011 0101110001 0101110101 1011111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 629 |
Words | 113 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 499 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 109 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 26, 2023
- 33 sec read
- 137 Views
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"William Tell" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40397/william-tell>.
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