Analysis of The Hermit
William Henry Davies 1871 – 1940
WHAT moves that lonely man is not the boom
Of waves that break agains the cliff so strong;
Nor roar of thunder, when that travelling voice
Is caught by rocks that carry far along.
'Tis not the groan of oak tree i its prime,
When lightning strikes its solid heart to dust;
Nor frozen pond when, melted by the sun,
It suddenly doth break its sparkling crust.
What moves that man is when the blind bat taps
His window when he sits alone at night;
Or when the small bird sounds like some great beast
Among the dead, dry leaves so fraiil and light.
Or when the moths on his night-pillow beat
Such heavy blows he fears they'll break his bones;
Or when a mouse inside the papered walls,
Comes like a tiger crunching through the stones.
Scheme | XAXA XBXB XCXC XDXD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1111011101 111110111 11110111001 1111110101 1101111111 1101110111 1101110101 1100111101 1111110111 1101110111 1101111111 0101111101 1101111101 1101111111 1101010101 1101010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 733 |
Words | 139 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 144 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 34 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
- 42 sec read
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"The Hermit" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Web. 24 Mar. 2023. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40672/the-hermit>.
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