Analysis of The Golden Year!

Alfred Austin 1835 (Leeds) – 1913 (Ashford)



When piped the love-warm throstle shrill,
And all the air was laden
With scent of dew and daffodil,
I saw a youth and maiden,
Whose colour, Spring-like, came and fled,
'Mong purple copses straying,
While birchen tassels overhead
Like marriage-bells kept swaying;
Filled with that joy that lingers still,
Which Eve brought out of Aiden,-
With scent of dew and daffodil
When all the air was laden.

When primrose banks turn pale and fade,
And meads wax deep and golden,
And in lush dale and laughing glade
Summer's gay Court is holden,
Them, nestling close, again I saw,
Affianced girl and lover,
She looking up with eyes of awe
To burning gaze above her;
Playing anew the part oft played,
Sung by the poets olden,-
When primrose banks turn pale and fade,
And meads wax deep and golden.

When autumn woods began to glow,
And autumn sprays to shiver,
Once more I saw them walking slow,
By sedgy-rustling river.
The season's flush was on her cheek,
The season's sadness o'er him:
He stroked her hand, and bade her speak
Of all the love she bore him.
That only made her tears to flow,
And chill his heart to quiver,-
While autumn woods began to glow,
And autumn sprays to shiver.

When winter fields stretched stiff and stark,
And wintry winds shrilled eerie,
I saw him creep, alone, at dark,
Into the churchyard dreary.
He laid him down against the stone,
'Neath which she aye lay sleeping,
Kissed its cold face with many a moan,
Then loudly fell a-weeping:
``Oh! let me in from lonely cark,
Or come thou back, my dearie!''-
But the wintry fields stretched stiff and stark,
And the wintry winds shrilled eerie!


Scheme abAbcdcdabAb EBebxfxfebEB gFgfhihigfgF jkjkldlddfjk
Poetic Form
Metre 1101111 0101110 1111010 1101010 1111101 110110 111101 1101110 11111101 111111 1111010 1101110 1111101 0111010 00110101 1011110 11010111 11010 11011111 1101010 10010111 1101010 1111101 0111010 11010111 0101110 11111101 111010 01011101 01010101 11010101 1101111 11010111 0111110 11010111 0101110 11011101 0101110 11110111 010110 11110101 1111110 111111001 1101010 11101101 111111 101011101 00101110
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,564
Words 291
Sentences 10
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 12, 12, 12, 12
Lines Amount 48
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 313
Words per stanza (avg) 71
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 27, 2023

1:28 min read
160

Alfred Austin

Alfred Austin DL was an English poet who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1896 upon the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. more…

All Alfred Austin poems | Alfred Austin Books

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