Analysis of A Poet's Lesson
Arthur Macy 1842 – 1904
Poet, my master, come, tell me true,
And how are your verses made?
Ah! that is the easiest thing to do: -
You take a cloud of a silvern hue,
A tender smile or a sprig of rue,
With plenty of light and shade,
And weave them round in syllables rare,
With a grace and skill divine;
With the earnest words of a pleading prayer,
With a cadence caught from a dulcet air,
A tale of love and a lock of hair,
Or a bit of a trailing vine.
Or, delving deep in a mine unwrought,
You find in the teeming earth
The golden vein of a noble thought;
The soul of a statesman still unbought,
Or a patriot's cry with anguish fraught
For the land that gave him birth.
A brilliant youth who has lost his way
On the winding road of life;
A sculptor's dream of the plastic clay;
A painter's soul in a sunset ray;
The sweetest thing a woman can say,
Or a struggling nation's strife.
A boy's ambition; a maiden's star,
Unrisen, but yet to be;
A glimmering light that shines afar
For a sinking ship on a moaning bar;
An empty sleeve; a veteran's scar;
Or a land where men are free.
And if the poet's hand be strong
To weave the web of a deathless song,
And if a master guide the pen
To words that reach the hearts of men,
And if the ear and the touch be true,
It's the easiest thing in the world to do!
Scheme | ABAAAB CDCCCD BEFBFE GHGGGH IJIIIJ KKLLAA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101101111 0111101 1110100111 11011011 010110111 1101101 011101001 1010101 1010110101 1010110101 011100111 10110101 11010011 1100101 010110101 01101011 1010011101 1011111 010111111 1010111 01110101 01010011 010101011 10100101 01010011 11111 010011101 1010110101 110101001 1011111 01010111 11011011 01010101 11110111 010100111 10100100111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,256 |
Words | 261 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 162 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 43 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:21 min read
- 4 Views
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"A Poet's Lesson" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/54780/a-poet%27s-lesson>.
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