Analysis of Water!--Oh! Water For Me

John Pierpont 1785 (Litchfield) – 1866 (Medford)



Oh! water for me-bright water for me!
And wine for the tremulous debauchee!
It cooleth the brow, it cooleth the brain,
It maketh the faint one strong again;
It comes o'er the sense like a breeze from the sea:
All freshness, like infant purity.

Oh water for me, bright water, for me!
Give wine, give wine to the debauchee!
Fill to the brim! fill, fill to the brim!
Let the flowing crystal kiss the rim:
For my hand is steady, my eye is true,
For I, like the flowers, drink nothing but dew.
Oh! water, bright water's a mine of wealth,
And the ores it yieldeth are vigour and health.
So water, pure water for me, for me!
And wine for the tremulous debauchee!

When over the hills, like a gladsome bride,
Morning walks forth in her beauty's pride,
And leading a band of laughing hours,
Brushes the dew from the nodding flowers,
Oh! cheerily then my voice is heard,
Mingling with that of the soaring bird,
Who flingeth abroad his matins loud,
As he freshens his wing in the cold grey cloud.

But when evening has quitted her sheltering yew,
Drowsily flying, and weaving anew,
Her dusky meshes o'er land and sea,
How gently, oh Sleep, fall thy poppies on me!
For water I drink, pure, cold and bright,
And my dreams are of heaven the live long night.
So, hurrah for thee, water, hurrah, hurrah!
Thou art silver and gold, thou art ribbon and star,
Hurrah for bright water! hurrah! hurrah!


Scheme aBxxaa abccddeeaB ffgghhii ddaajjkxk
Poetic Form
Metre 1101111011 01101001 11011101 11011101 111001101101 110110100 1101111011 1111101 110111101 101010101 1111101111 11101011011 1101100111 001111101 1101101111 01101001 110011011 10110011 0100111010 1001101010 1111111 1001110101 1101111 11101100111 11101101001 11001001 011010101 11011111011 110111101 01111100111 10111100101 111001111001 0111100101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,354
Words 255
Sentences 22
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 6, 10, 8, 9
Lines Amount 33
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 265
Words per stanza (avg) 63
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:17 min read
94

John Pierpont

John Pierpont was an American poet, who was also successively a teacher, lawyer, merchant, and Unitarian minister. His most famous poem is The Airs of Palestine. more…

All John Pierpont poems | John Pierpont Books

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