Analysis of Invocation
William Henry Drummond 1854 – 1907
PHOEBUS, arise!
And paint the sable skies
With azure, white, and red;
Rouse Memnon's mother from her Tithon's bed,
That she thy career may with roses spread;
The nightingales thy coming each-where sing;
Make an eternal spring!
Give life to this dark world which lieth dead;
Spread forth thy golden hair
In larger locks than thou wast wont before,
And emperor-like decore
With diadem of pearl thy temples fair:
Chase hence the ugly night
Which serves but to make dear thy glorious light.
This is that happy morn,
That day, long wished day
Of all my life so dark
(If cruel stars have not my ruin sworn
And fates not hope betray),
Which, only white, deserves
A diamond for ever should it mark:
This is the morn should bring into this grove
My Love, to hear and recompense my love.
Fair King, who all preserves,
But show thy blushing beams,
And thou two sweeter eyes
Shalt see than those which by Peneus' streams
Did once thy heart surprise:
Nay, suns, which shine as clear
As thou when two thou did to Rome appear.
Now, Flora, deck thyself in fairest guise:
If that ye, winds, would hear
A voice surpassing far Amphion's lyre,
Your stormy chiding stay;
Let zephyr only breathe
And with her tresses play,
Kissing sometimes these purple ports of death.
The winds all silent are;
And Phoebus in his chair
Ensaffroning sea and air
Makes vanish every star:
Night like a drunkard reels
Beyond the hills to shun his flaming wheels:
The fields with flowers are deck'd in every hue,
The clouds bespangle with bright gold their blue:
Here is the pleasant place--
And everything, save Her, who all should grace.
Scheme | AABBBCCBDXDDEEFGHFGIHXXIJAJAKKAXXGXGX LDDLMMNNOO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1001 010101 110101 11101011 1110111101 01110111 110101 111111111 111101 0101111101 010011 110111101 110101 11111111001 111101 11111 111111 1101111101 011101 110101 010110111 1101110111 111101011 111101 111101 011101 11111111 111101 111111 1111111101 110110101 111111 01010111 110101 110101 010101 1001110111 011101 010011 1101 1101001 110101 0101111101 011101101001 01111111 110101 010101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,608 |
Words | 285 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 37, 10 |
Lines Amount | 47 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 630 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 142 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 21, 2023
- 1:26 min read
- 86 Views
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"Invocation" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40706/invocation>.
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