Analysis of There was a Boy
William Wordsworth 1770 (Wordsworth House) – 1850 (Cumberland)
There was a Boy; ye knew him well, ye cliffs
And islands of Winander!--many a time,
At evening, when the earliest stars began
To move along the edges of the hills,
Rising or setting, would he stand alone,
Beneath the trees, or by the glimmering lake;
And there, with fingers interwoven, both hands
Pressed closely palm to palm and to his mouth
Uplifted, he, as through an instrument,
Blew mimic hootings to the silent owls,
That they might answer him.--And they would shout
Across the watery vale, and shout again,
Responsive to his call,--with quivering peals,
And long halloos, and screams, and echoes loud
Redoubled and redoubled; concourse wild
Of jocund din! And, when there came a pause
Of silence such as baffled his best skill:
Then, sometimes, in that silence, while he hung
Listening, a gentle shock of mild surprise
Has carried far into his heart the voice
Of mountain-torrents; or the visible scene
Would enter unawares into his mind
With all its solemn imagery, its rocks,
Its woods, and that uncertain heaven received
Into the bosom of the steady lake.
This boy was taken from his mates, and died
In childhood, ere he was full twelve years old.
Pre-eminent in beauty is the vale
Where he was born and bred: the churchyard hangs
Upon a slope above the village-school;
And, through that church-yard when my way has led
On summer-evenings, I believe, that there
A long half-hour together I have stood
Mute--looking at the grave in which he lies!
Scheme | ABCDEFGHIJKLAMNOPQRSTUVWFXYZ1 2 3 4 5 R |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101111111 010111001 11010100101 1101010101 1011011101 01011101001 0111001011 1101110111 1001111100 110110101 1111010111 01010010101 01011111001 011010101 010001011 111011101 1101110111 1010110111 10001011101 1101011101 11010101001 110010111 1111010011 11010101001 0101010101 1111011101 011111111 1100010101 111101011 0101010101 0111111111 1101010111 01110010111 1101010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,464 |
Words | 256 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 34 |
Lines Amount | 34 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,147 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 251 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 17, 2023
- 1:16 min read
- 300 Views
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