Analysis of The Red Canoe



De win' is sleepin' in de pine, but O! de
night is black!
An' all day long de loon bird cry on Lac Waya-
gamack-
No light is shinin' by de shore for helpin' steer
heem t'roo
W'en out upon de night, Ubalde he tak' de
red canoe.

I hear de paddle dip, dip, dip! wance more I
hear de loon-
I feel de breeze was show de way for storm
dat 's comin' soon,
An' den de sky fly open wit' de lightning
splittin' t'roo-
An' 'way beyon' de point I see de leetle red
canoe.

It 's dark again, but lissen how across Waya-
gamack
De tonder 's roarin' loud, an' now de mount-
ains answer back-
I wonder wit' de noise lak dat, he hear me, le
bon Dieu
W'en on ma knee I ax Heem save de leetle red
canoe!

Is dat a voice, so far away, it die upon ma hear?
Or only win' was foolin' me, an' w'isperin'
'Belzemire?'
Yaas, yaas, Ubalde, your Belzemire she 's
prayin' hard for you-
An' den again de lightning come, but w'ere 's
de red canoe?

Dey say I 'm mad, dem foolish folk, cos w'en
de night is black
An' w'en de wave lak snow-dreef come on Lac
Wayagamack
I tak' de place w'ere long ago we use to sit, us
two,
An' wait until de lightning bring de leetle red
canoe.


Scheme abcBddae xfxfxdgE cBxbxagE xedhche xbbbxegE
Poetic Form
Metre 1111011111 111 11111111111 1 1111111111 11 1001101111111 101 11110111111 111 1111111111 1111 11111101110 11 1111111111 01 11101111011 1 111111111 1101 110111111110 11 10011111111111 01 11011101110111 110111111 1 1111111 1111 11011101110011 1101 11111110111001 1111 1100111111111 1 1111100110111111 1 11011101111 01
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,112
Words 238
Sentences 11
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 7, 8
Lines Amount 39
Letters per line (avg) 21
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 165
Words per stanza (avg) 47
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:13 min read
58

William Henry Drummond

William Henry Drummond April 13 1854 April 6 1907 was an Irish-born Canadian poet He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature of the United Kingdom in 1898 and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1899 more…

All William Henry Drummond poems | William Henry Drummond Books

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