Analysis of Cora
Charles Harpur 1813 (Windsor) – 1868 (Australia)
Of Cora, once so dearly ours,
Would mournful memory sing;
Of how she came when came the flowers,
To leave us with the spring.
That day (returned) which gave her breath
Was that whereon she died,
And o’er the pangs of birth and death
Passed blooming as a bride.
The spring it came, with never a storm,
And nine times came and went,
Till its whole spirit with her form
In budding beauty blent.
Yea, till its sentiment was wreathed
About her eye it came,
And all its foregone influence breathed
At mention of her name.
And aye her soul, her inward worth,
Flushed out in subtle glows,
As from its heart come mantling forth
The ardours of a rose.
It was a glory from within
That made her face so fair,
A radiant spirit void of sin
Was working outward there.
Her locks as they were burnished shone
In many a massy fold,
Or fell in their profusion down
Like bursting sheaves of gold.
Bright garments of a spirit bright,
That even in the shroud
Were like the sunset’s aureate light
Within a lifeless cloud.
When she, our angel of the sun,
Had spread her wings in flight,
Ah, still would mournful memory sing
Of her, our lost delight!
Child with full orbs of heaven-deep blue
Illumined violet,
So richly gentle—touched with dew,
Befringed with glossy jet.
When with the spring we saw depart
Those eyes, those tresses curled,
Then summer dying in love’s heart,
To winger left the world.
Ah, soul that wore the snowy brow,
And gentle shining eyes,
Our song hath aye this burden now
Beneath the vernal skies.
In vain the dews of heaven are shed
Where blight hath been before;
So vainly weep we o’er the dead,
But only weep the more.
Yet from the bright time of her birth
And death, does faith construe
How, like the spring, though not on earth,
Our joy shall bloom anew.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EXED DFXF GHXH IJIJ XKXK LMLM XLBL NXNX OPOP QRQR STST GNGN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110111010 1101001 111111010 111101 11011101 11111 01011101 110101 011111001 011101 11110101 010101 11110011 010111 011111001 110101 01010101 110101 1111111 01101 11010101 110111 010010111 110101 01110101 010011 11010101 110111 11010101 110001 010111 010101 111010101 110101 111101001 1010101 111111011 010100 11010111 11101 11011101 111101 11010011 110101 11110101 010101 101111101 010101 010111011 111101 11011101 110101 11011101 011101 11011111 1011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,861 |
Words | 326 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 106 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:37 min read
- 85 Views
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"Cora" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5129/cora>.
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