Analysis of The Wind’s Tidings In August 1870
Augusta Davies Webster 1837 (Poole, Dorset) – 1894
'OH voice of summer winds among the trees,
What soft news art thou bringing to us here?
Dost thou come whispering of hushed scenes like these,
Languid in sunlight, while the drowsy deer
Couch placidly at rest, and from the brake
The song of fearless wild birds rings out clear,
And groves and meadows and this baby lake
Are dreaming to thy dreaming lullaby?
Art telling of hushed scenes like these? Awake,
Answer, sweet dying wind, and do not die.'
And the voice of the faint winds, dying away,
Answered me, 'Nay.'
'Oh voice of summer winds, then art thou come
From fluttering in the tangles of the vines
Beside the blue blue seas, in the far home
Of the dim olives and the dusky pines,
And from the cypress bosks, and where the air
Grows lush and heavy 'twixt the dark starred lines
Of orange hedge a-bloom, and the wide glare
Floods soft round hills with southern perfect day?
Answer again, low voice, hast thou been there?
Art telling of the dreamland far away?'
And the voice of the winds sighed over my head,
'Nay, nay,' it said.
'Oh sweet low voice of winds, whose wavering flights
Smoothly, like flickering swallows, come and go,
What, is thy tale of where the ceaseless heights
Rest white and cloudlike in their virgin snow?
Hast thou been wandering round the scented firs,
And where the dauntless shrub-flowers bud and blow
Against the pale chill sea that never stirs,
And where the midway foam hangs o'er the cleft?
Speak, slumbrous voice, to slumbrous listeners,
Art telling us of these that thou hast left?'
And the voice of the dying winds breathed low,
'Nay, nay; not so.'
'Oh voice of dying winds, make sweet reply,
Whence hast thou come?
What does thy whisper say?
Answer, oh dying voice, and do not die.'
It whispered in a hush, 'The dead men lay
Fallen together like the sickled grain;
Onward still dashed the whirlwind and the fray;
The thunders and the tramplings shook the plain;
There was the crash and clash of host to host,
Throes, and the blood-pools widening, death and pain.'
And waning in a murmur it was lost.
Scheme | AXABCBCDCD EE FGXGHGHEHE II JKJKLKLMLM KK DFEDENENXNX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111010101 1111110111 11110011111 100110101 1100110101 0111011111 010101101 110111010 1101111101 1011010111 00110111001 1011 1111011111 11000010101 0101110011 101100011 0101010101 1101010111 1101010011 1111110011 1001111111 110101101 00110111011 1111 11111111001 10110010101 1111110101 110101101 11110010101 0101110101 0101111101 0101111001 11111100 1101111111 0011010111 1111 1111011101 1111 111101 1011010111 1100010111 100101011 101101001 010001101 1101011111 10011100101 0100010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,004 |
Words | 375 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 2, 10, 2, 10, 2, 11 |
Lines Amount | 47 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 227 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 52 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:50 min read
- 133 Views
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