Analysis of A Medley: Our Enemies Have Fall'n (The Princess)
Alfred Lord Tennyson 1809 – 1892
Our enemies have fall'n, have fall'n: the seed,
The little seed they laugh'd at in the dark,
Has risen and cleft the soil, and grown a bulk
Of spanless girth, that lays on every side
A thousand arms and rushes to the Sun.
Our enemies have fall'n, have fall'n: they came;
The leaves were wet with women's tears: they heard
A noise of songs they would not understand:
They mark'd it with the red cross to the fall,
And would have strown it, and are fall'n themselves.
Our enemies have fall'n, have fall'n: they came,
The woodmen with their axes: lo the tree!
But we will make it faggots for the hearth,
And shape it plank and beam for roof and floor,
And boats and bridges for the use of men.
Our enemies have fall'n, have fall'n: they struck;
With their own blows they hurt themselves, nor knew
There dwelt an iron nature in the grain:
The glittering axe was broken in their arms,
Their arms were shatter'd to the shoulder blade.
Our enemies have fall'n, but this shall grow
A night of Summer from the heat, a breadth
Of Autumn, dropping fruits of power; and roll'd
With music in the growing breeze of Time,
The tops shall strike from star to star, the fangs
Shall move the stony bases of the world.
Scheme | xxxxxAxxxx Axxxx xxxxx xxxxxx |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010011111101 0101111001 11001010101 1111111001 0101010101 1010011111111 0101110111 011111101 1111011101 01111011101 1010011111111 011110101 111111101 0111011101 0101010111 1010011111111 1111110111 1111010001 01001110011 1101010101 101001111111 0111010101 11010111001 1100010111 0111111101 1101010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,182 |
Words | 226 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 5, 5, 6 |
Lines Amount | 26 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 231 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 56 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 3 Views
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"A Medley: Our Enemies Have Fall'n (The Princess)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/54705/a-medley%3A-our-enemies-have-fall%27n-%28the-princess%29>.
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