Analysis of Byron And The Angel
Hanford Lennox Gordon 1836 ( Andover, New York, ) – 1920 ( Minnesota)
"Why this fever why this sighing?
Why this restless longing dying
For a something dreamy something,
Undefined, and yet defying
All the pride and power of manhood?
"O these years of sin and sorrow!
Smiling while the iron harrow
Of a keen and biting longing
Tears and quivers in the marrow
Of my being every moment
Of my very inmost being.
"What to me the mad ambition
For men's praise and proud position
Struggling, fighting to the summit
Of its vain and earthly mission,
To lie down on bed of ashes
Bed of barren, bitter ashes?
"Cure this fever? I have tried it;
Smothered, drenched it and defied it
With a will of brass and iron;
Every smile and look denied it;
Yet it heeded not denying,
And it mocks at my defying
While my very soul is dying.
"Is there balm in Gilead? tell me!
Nay no balm to soothe and quell me?
Must I tremble in this fever?
Death, O lift thy hand and fell me;
Let me sink to rest forever
Where this burning cometh never.
"Sometimes when this restless madness
Softens down to mellow sadness,
I look back on sun-lit valleys
Where my boyish heart of gladness
Nestled without pain or longing
Nestled softly in a vision
Full of love and hope's fruition,
Lulled by morning songs of spring-time.
"Then I ponder, and I wonder
Was some heart-chord snapped asunder
When the threads were soft and silken?
Did some fatal boyish blunder
Plant a canker in my bosom
That hath ever burned and rankled?
"O this thirsting, thirsting hanker!
O this burning, burning canker'
Driving Peace and Hope to shipwreck
Without rudder, without anchor,
On the reef-rocks of Damnation!"
"Jesus Son of Virgin Mary;
Lift the burden from the weary:
Pity, Jesus, and anoint him
With the holy balm of Gilead."
"Yea, Christ Jesus, pour thy blessings
On these terrible heart-pressings:
O I bless thee, unseen Angel;
Lead me teach me, holy Spirit."
"There is balm in Gilead!
There is balm in Gilead!
Peace awaits thee with caressings
Sitting at the feet of Jesus
At the right-hand of Jehovah
At the blessed feet of Jesus; Alleluia!"
Scheme | aaaax bbabxa ccdcee ffxfaaa gghghh iixeaccx hhchxx hhxhc ggxj xekd JJeixk |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11101110 11101010 10101010 0101010 10101011 11111010 10101010 10101010 1010010 111010010 1110110 11101010 11101010 100101010 11101010 11111110 11101010 11101111 10110011 10111010 100101011 11101010 01111010 11101110 11100111 11111011 11100110 11111011 11111010 11101010 01111010 10111010 11111110 1110111 10011110 10100010 11101010 11101111 11100110 11111010 10101010 11101010 10100110 11101010 111110 11101010 10101110 01100110 10111010 10111010 10101010 10100011 10101101 11101110 1110011 11110110 11111010 111001 111001 101111 10101110 10111010 10111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,030 |
Words | 383 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 6, 6, 7, 6, 8, 6, 5, 4, 4, 6 |
Lines Amount | 63 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 144 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:54 min read
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