Analysis of The Oldest Thing In London
Cicely Fox Smith 1882 (Lymm, Cheshire) – 1954 (Bow, Devon)
A thousand landmarks perish,
A hundred streets grow strange;
With all the dreams they cherish
They go the ways of change;
But, whatso towers may tumble,
And whatso bridges fall,
And whatso statues crumble
Of folk both great and small,
The Oldest Thing in London he changes not at all.
The shoutings of the foeman,
The groanings of the slain,
The galley of the Roman,
The longship of the Dane,
The warring of the nations,
The judgment of the Lord
On heedless generations
In plague and fire and sword,
The Oldest Thing in London has known them and endured.
When London wall was builded
And London stone was new,
When first Paul's spire rose gilded
And gleaming in the blue,
Ere Holbein yet was christened,
When no one dreamed of Wren,
And clear the Ty-bourne glistened
And the Fleet was seen of men
The Oldest Thing in London was not much younger then.
New Londons rise like bubbles,
Like bubbles break and pass,
Or some dark dream that troubles
A wizard's magic glass;
A little while they hustle
And glitter in the sun,
And feast and fret and bustle
And chaffer, and have done -
The Oldest Thing in London he sees them every one.
No stones so strong to weather
Sun's heat or winter's blast
But time and man together
May tear them down at last;
The toughest rafters moulder,
The stoutest beams decay,
But he seems little older
From day to changing day -
The Oldest Thing in London that passes not away.
Each day to her, his daughter,
On each returning tide
He brings as first he brought her
Her dower of wealth and pride;
Twice daily, now as ever
At London's feet is laid
By London's ancient river
The burthen of her trade
By London's ancient river -
Way-hay, you London River!
The Oldest Thing in London, whereby was London made!
Scheme | ababcdcdd eeeefgfgx gexxhehee ijijcecee klklkmkmm knknkoKoK k o |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 010110 010111 1101110 110111 1110110 01101 01110 111101 0101010110111 01101 01101 0101010 01101 0101010 010101 11010 0101001 0101010111001 110111 010111 1111110 010001 1101110 111111 0101110 0011111 0101010111101 111110 110101 1111110 01101 0101110 010001 0101010 01011 01010101111001 1111110 111101 1101010 111111 0101010 01101 1111010 111101 0101010110101 1110110 110101 1111110 011101 1101110 110111 1101010 01101 1101010 1111010 0101010011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,681 |
Words | 317 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 1, 1 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 171 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 03, 2023
- 1:37 min read
- 110 Views
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