Analysis of At William Maclennan's Grave
Duncan Campbell Scott 1862 (Ottawa) – 1947
Here where the cypress tall
Shadows the stucco wall,
Bronze and deep,
Where the chrysanthemums blow,
And the roses--blood and snow--
He lies asleep.
Florence dreameth afar;
Memories of foray and war,
Murmur still;
The Certosa crowns with a cold
Cloud of snow and gold
The olive hill.
What has he now for the streams
Born sweet and deep with dreams
From the cedar meres?
Only the Arno's flow,
Turbid, and weary, and slow
With wrath and tears.
What has he now for the song
Of the boatmen, joyous and long,
Where the rapids shine?
Only the sound of toil,
Where the peasants press the soil
For the oil and wine.
Spirit-fellow in sooth
With bold La Salle and Duluth,
And La Vérandrye,--
Nothing he has but rest,
Deep in his cypress nest
With memory.
Hearts of steel and of fire,
Why do ye love and aspire,
When follows
Death--all your passionate deeds,
Garnered with rust and with weeds
In the hollows?
God that hardened the steel,
Bid the flame leap and reel,
Gave us unrest;
We act in the dusk afar,
In a star beyond your star,
His behest.
'We leave you dreams and names
Still we are iron and flames,
Biting and bright;
Into some virgin world,
Champions, we are hurled,
Of venture and fight.'
Here where the shadows fall,
From the cypress by the wall,
Where the roses are--
Here is a dream and a name,
There, like a rose of flame,
Rises--a star.
Scheme | AABCCB DXEFFE GGGCCX HHIJJI KKXLLX XXMNNM OOLDDL PPQRRQ AADSSD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110101 10101 101 1001001 0010101 1101 10101 10011001 101 011101 11101 0101 1111101 110111 10101 10011 101001 1101 1111101 1011001 10101 100111 1010101 10101 101001 1111001 0111 101111 101101 1100 1110110 1111001 110 1111001 1011011 0010 111001 101101 1101 1100101 0010111 101 111101 1111001 1001 011101 100111 11001 11011 1010101 10101 1101001 110111 1001 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,298 |
Words | 251 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 54 |
Letters per line (avg) | 19 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 115 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:15 min read
- 145 Views
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"At William Maclennan's Grave" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8326/at-william-maclennan%27s-grave>.
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