Analysis of A "Thought-Flower"
Abram Joseph Ryan 1839 (Hagerstown) – 1886 (Louisville)
Silently -- shadowly -- some lives go,
And the sound of their voices is all unheard;
Or, if heard at all, 'tis as faint as the flow
Of beautiful waves which no storm hath stirred.
Deep lives these
As the pearl-strewn seas.
Softly and noiselessly some feet tread
Lone ways on earth, without leaving a mark;
They move 'mid the living, they pass to the dead,
As still as the gleam of a star thro' the dark.
Sweet lives those
In their strange repose.
Calmly and lowly some hearts beat,
And none may know that they beat at all;
They muffle their music whenever they meet
A few in a hut or a crowd in a hall.
Great hearts those --
God only knows!
Soundlessly -- shadowly -- such move on,
Dim as the dream of a child asleep;
And no one knoweth 'till they are gone
How lofty their souls -- their hearts how deep.
Bright souls these --
God only sees.
Lonely and hiddenly in the world --
Tho' in the world 'tis their lot to stay --
The tremulous wings of their hearts are furled
Until they fly from the world away,
And find their rest
On "Our Father's" breast,
Where earth's unknown shall be known the best,
And the hidden hearts shall be brightest blest.
Scheme | ABABCC DEDEFF GHGHFF XIXICC XJBJKKKK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1001111 00111101101 11111111101 1100111111 111 10111 1001111 1111011001 11101011101 11101101101 111 01101 10010111 011111111 11011001011 01001101001 111 1101 11111 110110101 01111111 110111111 111 1101 1001001 100111111 0100111111 011110101 0111 110101 110111101 0010111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,126 |
Words | 223 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 175 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 44 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on April 24, 2023
- 1:07 min read
- 315 Views
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"A "Thought-Flower"" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/54615/a-%22thought-flower%22>.
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