Analysis of Death Of Captain Cooke,
William Lisle Bowles 1762 (King's Sutton) – 1850
OF 'THE BELLEROPHON,' KILLED IN THE SAME BATTLE.
When anxious Spain, along her rocky shore,
From cliff to cliff returned the sea-fight's roar;
When flash succeeding flash, tremendous broke
The haze incumbent, and the clouds of smoke,
As oft the volume rolled away, thy mien,
Thine eye, serenely terrible, was seen,
My gallant friend.--Hark! the shrill bugle calls,
Is the day won! alas, he falls--he falls!
His soul from pain, from agony release!
Hear his last murmur, Let me die in peace!
Yet still, brave Cooke, thy country's grateful tear,
Shall wet the bleeding laurel on thy bier.
But who shall wake to joy, through a long life
Of sadness, thy beloved and widowed wife,
Who now, perhaps, thinks how the green seas foam,
That bear thy victor ship impatient home!
Alas! the well-known views,--the swelling plain,
Thy laurel-circled home, endeared in vain,
The brook, the church, those chestnuts darkly-green,
Yon fir-crowned summit, and the village scene,
Wardour's long sweep of woods, the nearer mill,
And high o'er all, the turrets of Font Hill:
These views, when summer comes, shall charm no more
Him o'er whose welt'ring corse the wild waves roar,
Enough: 'twas Honour's voice that awful cried,
Glory to him who for his country died!
Yet dreary is her solitude who bends
And mourns the best of husbands, fathers, friends!
Oh! when she wakes at midnight, but to shed
Fresh tears of anguish on her lonely bed,
Thinking on him who is not; then restrain
The tear, O God, and her sad heart sustain!
Giver of life, may she remember still
Thy chastening hand, and to thy sovereign will
Bow silently; not hopeless, while her eye
She raises to a bright futurity,
And meekly trusts, in heaven, Thou wilt restore
That happiness the world can give no more!
Scheme | X AABBCCDDEEXXFFGGHHCCIIAAJJKKLLHHIIXJAA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101100110 1101010101 1111010111 1101010101 0101000111 1101010111 11010010011 1101101101 1011011111 1111110001 1111011101 1111110101 1101010111 1111111011 1101010101 1101110111 1111010101 0101110101 1101010101 0101110101 1111000101 111110101 01101010111 1111011111 11011110111 011111101 1011111101 110101011 0101110101 111111111 1111010101 1011111101 0111001101 1011110101 111011101 1100110101 1101011 01010101101 1100011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,722 |
Words | 305 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 38 |
Lines Amount | 39 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 680 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 150 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:33 min read
- 41 Views
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"Death Of Captain Cooke," Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40864/death-of-captain-cooke%2C>.
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