Analysis of Ancient Of Days
It's Epsom but could pass for Epping,
New Forest or Dumbarton Wood.
There's ivy of the thickest
English sort not commonly
found in America; sprigs
growing across open ground
mantling it.
Shiny to the eye, soft encircling
the touch, I am reminded of blue waters,
green grass Blake's Ancient of Days:
an old man's beard stepping from the trees,
Spanish Moss so unearthly it covers a
southern forest.
There are tendrils in herbal potions of unbroken lips that move
across both dew and clover.
I see Druids reciting psalms, weaving ivy along garlands
of oak, the incantation set before a British lake -
briar baskets carrying the trusting dead;
food offerings transversing the waters.
The ivy calls to mind all these things,
just a sprig held tightly yet aromatic beyond imagining,
my timorous English settlers seen thru a spate of leaves
clutching their holly on Roanoke island.
Scheme | AX XXBXX ABBBXX XX BXXB BABX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110111110 110111 1101010 1011100 1001001 1001101 11 1010110100 01110101110 1111011 111110101 10110101100 1010 111010101010111 0111010 111001011010011 11001101010101 10101000101 11001010 010111111 1011101010010100 11001010110111 1011011010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 870 |
Words | 152 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 5, 6, 2, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 23 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 118 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on April 03, 2023
- 46 sec read
- 36 Views
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"Ancient Of Days" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/56385/ancient-of-days>.
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