Analysis of A Christmas Carol
Christina Rossetti 1830 (London) – 1894 (London)
In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.
Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak midwinter
A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty
Jesus Christ.
Enough for Him, whom cherubim
Worship night and day,
A breastful of milk
And a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels
Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
Which adore.
Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air;
But only His mother
In her maiden bliss
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.
What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a Wise Man
I would do my part,—
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give my heart.
Scheme | AbxbccAc defeagxg dfxfhixi hjdjakxk dlxlxmdm |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (35%) Etheree (33%) |
Metre | 001110 10111 111110 10101 1110111 111 001110 101 101101011 1101 10011101 11111 001110 010101 011010 101 011111 10101 0111 00111 0111110 1101 0101010 101 10010 11101 101 101 110110 00101 10001 101 11111 1111 110010 11101 110011 11111 1111111 111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 892 |
Words | 167 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 17 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 135 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
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"A Christmas Carol" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/54236/a-christmas-carol>.
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