Analysis of The Queen’s Room, Sizergh Hall, Westmorland
Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 (Chelsea) – 1838 (Cape Coast)
Tradition has conferred on this apartment the name of the Queen’s Room. Catherine Parr, the last queen of Henry VIII., is said to have occupied this apartment for several nights after the king’s death.
AY, regal the chamber, and stately the gloom
That the old oaken panels fling over the room;
The carving is gilded—the hangings are rare;
Yet, stranger, I warn thee—Oh! slumber not there.
For when the lamp dies in the dead of the night,
And when the wan moon has exhausted her light,
By that mirror of silver a pale lady stands,
And rends her long tresses and wrings her white hands.
Years have pass’d since that lady smoothed back her bright hair,
And asked of the glass if her image was fair:
It was not for her husband she braided its gold,
Or flung from its brightness the veil’s silver fold.
He slew her while watching her cheek where the rose
Was reddening in beauty, like sunshine on snows.
He slew her—the glass was yet warm with her breath—
She turn'd to her lover—she turned to her death.
Less crimson the wine-cup that stood at her side,
Than the red stream which gushed with her life on its tide,
A groan and a gasp, and the struggle is o’er—
The blood which he spilt is yet there—on the floor.
No prayer by her death-bed—no mass for her soul—
No bell on the depths of the midnight to toll;
Unshrouded, uncoffin’d they laid her to rest,
The grave was unholy—the ground was unblest.
She comes with the midnight—meet not her cold eye,
It shines but on those who are fated to die.
She comes with the midnight, when spirits have power—
She comes with the midnight, and evil the hour.
She comes from the grave, with its secret and pain,
The grave which recalleth its truant again.
The chamber grows damp with the charnel-like air;
Then, stranger, I warn thee—oh! slumber not there.
Scheme | A BBCC DDEE CCFF GGAA HHCX IIXD JJKK XXCC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01010111010011011100101111011111101010110110011 11001001001 10111011001 01011001011 11011111011 11011001101 01011101001 111011001101 01011001011 111111011011 01101101011 111101011011 11111001101 11011001101 110101111 11001111101 11101011101 11001111101 101111101111 01001001011 01111111101 11101111101 1110110111 1111011 0110100111 1110111011 11111111011 11101110110 11101010010 11101111001 011111001 0101110111 11011111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,819 |
Words | 327 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 33 |
Letters per line (avg) | 42 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 155 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 36 |
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"The Queen’s Room, Sizergh Hall, Westmorland" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/52580/the-queen%E2%80%99s-room%2C-sizergh-hall%2C-westmorland>.
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