Analysis of Pulo Penang
Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 (Chelsea) – 1838 (Cape Coast)
The sail from Penang to Singapore presents the loveliest succession of scenery which ocean can produce. The sea is studded with tracts of fairy-land, glittering like emeralds in the golden sun, where the waving trees dip their long branches into the water; where the smooth sands are covered with shells, sparkling with all the hues of the prism. Birds, too, of Orient plumage, skim over the surface of the silver sea, or glance in and out from groves laden with fruit and flowers. The ocean-land, linked by these flowery labyrinths, retains its tranquillity even during the summer tempests.
Never—that fairy isle can be
No lengthened resting-place of mine;
I love it dearest when I see
Its shadow lengthen on the brine:
And then my heart with softness fills;
I think upon its palmy groves,
I hear the murmur of its rills,
I hear the singing of its doves.
I see the white catalpa bend,
As when beneath thy whiter hand,
The buds in snowy showers descend,
To wreath for thy dark hair a band:
And then I sigh to be on shore,
To linger languid at thy side,
I think that I will part no more
From thee, my own, my idol bride.
Oh, only those who part can know
How dear the love that absence brings;
O’er wind and wave my fancies go,
As if my very heart had wings:
And yet, when listless on the land,
Impatient in my happiness,
I long again to grasp my brand,
Again I long the deck to press.
I love to see my red flag sweep;
I love to see my sabre shine;
Almost as much I love the deep
As I love those sweet eyes of thine.
I bring thee treasures from afar;
For thy dear sake I sweep the sea;
But for the honour won in war,
I should be too unworthy thee.
Scheme | A BCACAAAA DEDEFGFG HAHAEAEA ICICXAFB |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0111011010010101100110101011101111011001100010110101111100101010111101110110110101111010110010101011100111101101001011111001011110100101 10110111 11010111 11110111 1110101 01111101 1101111 11010111 11010111 110111 11011101 010101001 11111101 01111111 11010111 11111111 11111101 11011111 11011101 11011101 11110111 01110101 01001100 11011111 01110111 11111111 11111101 1111101 11111111 11110101 11111101 1101101 11110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,694 |
Words | 313 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 33 |
Letters per line (avg) | 39 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 257 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 63 |
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"Pulo Penang" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/52617/pulo-penang>.
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