Analysis of The Piper On The Hills
Dora Sigerson Shorter 1866 (Dublin) – 1918
A CHILD'S SONG
There sits a piper on the hill
Who pipes the livelong day,
And when he pipes both loud and shrill,
The frightened people say
‘The wind, the wind is blowing up,
'Tis rising to a gale.’
The women hurry to the shore
To watch some distant sail.
The wind, the wind, the wind, the wind,
Is blowing to a gale.
But when he pipes all sweet and low,
The piper on the hill,
I hear the merry women go
With laughter, loud and shrill
‘The wind, the wind is coming south,
'Twill blow a gentle day.’
They gather on the meadow-land,
To toss the yellow hay.
The wind, the wind, the wind, the wind,
Is blowing south to-day.
And in the morn, when winter comes,
To keep the piper warm,
The little Angels shake their wings
To make a feather storm
‘The snow, the snow has come at last!’
The happy children call,
And ‘ring around’ they dance in glee,
And watch the snowflakes fall.
The wind, the wind, the wind, the wind,
Has spread a snowy pall.
But when at night the piper plays,
I have not any fear,
Because God's windows open wide
The pretty tune to hear;
And when each crowding spirit looks,
From its star window-pane,
A watching mother may behold
Her little child again.
The wind, the wind, the wind, the wind,
May blow her home again.
Scheme | xababxcxcDceaeaxbxbDb xfxfxgxgDxxxxxxxxhDh |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011 11010101 11011 01111101 010101 01011101 110101 01010101 111101 01010101 110101 11111101 010101 11010101 110101 01011101 110101 1101011 110101 01010101 110111 00011101 110101 01010111 110101 01011111 010101 01011101 01011 01010101 110101 11110101 111101 01110101 010111 01110101 111101 01010101 010101 01010101 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,223 |
Words | 240 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 21, 20 |
Lines Amount | 41 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 468 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 118 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 119 Views
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