Analysis of Guido Sebaldi
Cicely Fox Smith 1882 (Lymm, Cheshire) – 1954 (Bow, Devon)
Guido Sebaldi the mason
Worked at a house of stone:
Guido Sebaldi the mason
Sand at his work alone.
Till a stranger, he said unto him
As he hammer'd the stone one day'
'Guido Sebaldi the mason,
Hark to the words I say!'
'Leave thou this work, fit only
For oxen that draw the plough:
No longer Sebaldi the mason,
Guido the sculptor thou!'
Then Guido Sebaldi the mason
Look'd on his work in shame.
And 'Lo,' he said, 'I am lusty,
I will build me a noble name.'
Guido Sebaldi the sculptor
Toil'd till his heart grew sore.
Guido Sebaldi the sculptor
Sang at his work no more.
Vainly Sebaldi the mason
Hammer'd the senseless stone.
Vainly Sebaldi the mason
Sigh'd at his work alone.
His hands were ready and skillful,
And his days with toil were rife,
But the soul of the master was needed
To waken the stone to life.
Sadly Sebaldi the mason
Went back to the house of stone;
And his brow once more grew cheery
As he sat at his work alone.
But yet he was always thinking
Of hopes that were long since o'er;
And Guido Sebaldi the mason
Sang at his work no more.
Scheme | AbAb xcAc deae afdf GhGH AbAb xixi abdb xgaH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (89%) |
Metre | 101010 110111 101010 111101 101011101 11100111 101010 110111 1111110 1101101 1101010 100101 1101010 111101 01111110 11110101 101010 111111 101010 111111 101010 100101 101010 111101 11010010 0111101 1011010110 1100111 101010 1110111 01111110 11111101 1111110 11101110 0101010 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,027 |
Words | 208 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 90 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 66 Views
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"Guido Sebaldi" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/42749/guido-sebaldi>.
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