Analysis of A Cenotaph,
William Lisle Bowles 1762 (King's Sutton) – 1850
Oh, hadst thou fall'n, brave youth! on that proud day,
When our victorious fleet o'er the red surge
Rolled in terrific glory, thou hadst fall'n
Most honoured; and Remembrance, while she thought
Upon thy gallant end, had dried her tear!
Now far beyond the huge Atlantic wave
Thy bones decay; the withering pestilence,
That swept the islands of the western world,
Smote thee, untimely drooping to the tomb!
But 'tis enough; whate'er a soldier's fate,
That firm he hied him, where stern honour bade;
Though with unequal strength, he sunk and died.
Scheme | ABCDEFGHIJKL |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111111111 1100100110011 10010101111 110010111 0111011101 1101010101 11010100100 1101010101 1101010101 1101100101 111111111 1101011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 541 |
Words | 94 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 12 |
Lines Amount | 12 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 427 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 92 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 29 sec read
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"A Cenotaph," Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40845/a-cenotaph%2C>.
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