Analysis of A Ballade Of The Unborn Dead
They walked the valley of the dead;
Lit by a weird half light;
No sound they made, no word they said;
And they were pale with fright.
Then suddenly from unseen places came
Loud laughter, that was like a whip of flame.
They looked, and saw, beyond, above,
A land where wronged souls wait;
(Those spirits called to earth by love,
And driven back by hate).
And each one stood in anguish dumb and wild,
As she beheld the phantom of her child.
Yea, saw the soul her wish had hurled
Out into night and death;
Before it reached the Mother world,
Or drew its natal breath.
And terrified, each hid her face and fled
Beyond the presence of her unborn dead.
And God's Great Angel, who provides
Souls for our mortal land,
Laughed, with the laughter that derides,
At that fast fleeing band
Of self-made barren women of the earth.
(Hell has no curse that withers like such mirth.)
'O Angel, tell us who were they,
That down below us fared;
Those shapes with faces strained and grey,
And eyes that stared and stared;
Something there was about them, gave us fear;
Yet are we lonely, now they are not here.'
Thus spake the spectral children; thus
The Angel made reply:
'They have no part or share with us;
They were but passers-by.'
'But may we pray for them?' the phantoms plead.
'Yea, for they need your prayers,' the Angel said.
They went upon their lonely way;
(Far, far from Paradise);
Their path was lit with one wan ray
From ghostly children's eyes;
The little children who were never born;
And as they passed, the Angel laughed in scorn.
Scheme | ABABCC DEDEFF GHGHAA IJIJKK LMLMXX NONOXA LXLXPP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010101 110111 11111111 010111 1100101101 1101110111 11010101 011111 11011111 010111 0111010101 111010101 11010111 101101 01110101 111101 010110101 0101010111 01110101 1110101 11010101 111101 1111010101 1111110111 11011101 110111 11110101 011101 1011011111 1111011111 1101101 010101 11111111 101101 1111110101 1111110101 11011101 11110 11111111 110101 0101010101 0111010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,507 |
Words | 291 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 168 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
Font size:
Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:26 min read
- 13 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"A Ballade Of The Unborn Dead" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/55120/a-ballade-of-the-unborn-dead>.
Discuss this Ella Wheeler Wilcox 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