Analysis of A Baby's Death
Kate Seymour Maclean 1836 ( Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania) – 1918 ( New York)
A little white soul went up to God,
Out of the mire of the city street;
It grew like a flower in the highway broad,
Close to the trample of heedless feet.
It fell like a snow-flake over night,
Into the ways by vile ones trod;
It sparkled--dissolved in the morning light,
And the little white soul went up to God.
Dainty, flower-soft, waxen thing,
Its clear eyes opened on this bad earth,
And the little shuddering soul took wing,
By the gate of death, from the gate of birth.
Not for those innocent lips and eyes,
The words and the ways of sin and strife;
The pure flower opened in paradise,
Fast by the banks of the river of life.
Yea, little victors, who never fought;
And crowned, though ye never ran the race,
His blood your innocent lives hath bought,
And ye stand before Him and see His face!
For this, oh Father! we give Thee thanks,
By the little graves, and the tear-wet sod,
They stand before Thee in shining ranks,
And the little white souls are safe with God!
Scheme | ABXB CACA DEDE XFXF XGXG HAHA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 010111111 110110101 1110100011 11010111 111011101 01011111 1100100101 0010111111 1010111 111101111 0010100111 1011110111 111100101 010011101 011010010 1101101011 110101101 011110101 111100111 0110110111 111101111 1010100111 110110101 0010111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,088 |
Words | 183 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 125 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
Font size:
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"A Baby's Death" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/54326/a-baby%27s-death>.
Discuss this Kate Seymour Maclean poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In