Analysis of All Souls' Day in a German Town
Michael Fairless 1869 (Rastrick, Brighouse,) – 1901 (Henfield,)
The leaves fall softly: a wind of sighs
Whispers the world's infirmities,
Whispers the tale of the waning years,
While slow mists gather in shrouding tears
On All Souls' Day; and the bells are slow
In steeple and tower. Sad folk go
Away from the township, past the mill,
And mount the slope of a grassy hill
Carved into terraces broad and steep,
To the inn where wearied travellers sleep,
Where the sleepers lie in ordered rows,
And no man stirs in his long repose.
They wend their way past the haunts of life,
Father and daughter, grandmother, wife,
To deck with candle and deathless cross,
The house which holds their dearest loss.
I, who stand on the crest of the hill,
Watch how beneath me, busied still,
The sad folk wreathe each grave with flowers.
Awhile the veil of the twilight hours
Falls softly, softly, over the hill,
Shadows the cross:- creeps on until
Swiftly upon us is flung the dark.
Then, as if lit by a sudden spark,
Each grave is vivid with points of light,
Earth is as Heaven's mirror to-night;
The air is still as a spirit's breath,
The lights burn bright in the realm of Death.
Then silent the mourners mourning go,
Wending their way to the church below;
While the bells toll out to bid them speed,
With eager Pater and prayerful bead,
The souls of the dead, whose bodies still
Lie in the churchyard under the hill;
While they wait and wonder in Paradise,
And gaze on the dawning mysteries,
Praying for us in our hours of need;
For us, who with Pater and prayerful bead
Have bidden those waiting spirits speed.
Scheme | ABCDEEFFGGHHIIJJFFKKFFLLMMNNEEOOFFPBOOO |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011100111 10010100 100110101 111100101 111100111 010010111 011010101 010110101 101100101 1011101001 101010101 011101101 111110111 10010101 11110011 01111101 111101101 11011101 011111110 010110110 110101001 1011101 100111101 111110101 111101111 111101011 011110101 011100111 110010101 101110101 101111111 110100101 011011101 10011001 111010010 011010100 10110101011 1111100101 110110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,495 |
Words | 280 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 39 |
Lines Amount | 39 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,205 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 279 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:24 min read
- 5 Views
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"All Souls' Day in a German Town" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/56207/all-souls%27-day-in-a-german-town>.
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