Analysis of To Baffle Time
Henry Abbey 1842 (Rondout ) – 1911 (New York)
To baffle time, whose tooth has never rest,
And make the counted line, from page to page,
Compact, fulfilled of what is apt and best,
And vibrant with the keynote of the age,
This is my aim; and even aims are things;
They give men value who have won no place.
We pass for what we would be, by some grace,
And our ambitions make us seem like kings.
But never yet has destiny's clear star
For aimless feet shed light upon the way.
So have I hope, since purpose sees no bar,
To write immortally some lyric day,
As Lovelace did when he informed the lay
Inspired by Lucasta and by war.
Scheme | ABABCDDCEFEFFG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101111101 0101011111 1001111101 010101101 1111010111 1111011111 1111111111 01001011111 11011111 1101110101 1111110111 1111101 111110101 01011011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 575 |
Words | 115 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 449 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 113 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 34 sec read
- 67 Views
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"To Baffle Time" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/43002/to-baffle-time>.
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