Analysis of Night Burial In The Forest
Duncan Campbell Scott 1862 (Ottawa) – 1947
Lay him down where the fern is thick and fair.
Fain was he for life, here lies he low:
With the blood washed clean from his brow and his beautiful hair,
Lay him here in the dell where the orchids grow.
Let the birch-bark torches roar in the gloom,
And the trees crowd up in a quiet startled ring
So lone is the land that in this lonely room
Never before has breathed a human thing.
Cover him well in his canvas shroud, and the moss
Part and heap again on his quiet breast,
What recks he now of gain, or love, or loss
Who for love gained rest?
While she who caused it all hides her insolent eyes
Or braids her hair with the ribbons of lust and of lies,
And he who did the deed fares out like a hunted beast
To lurk where the musk-ox tramples the barren ground
Where the stroke of his coward heart is the only sound.
Haunting the tamarac shade,
Hear them up-thronging
Memories foredoomed
Of strife and of longing:
Haggard or bright
By the tamaracs and birches,
Where the red torch light
Trembles and searches,
The wilderness teems
With inscrutable eyes
Of ghosts that are dreams
Commingled with memories.
Leave him here in his secret ferny tomb,
Withdraw the little light from the ocean of gloom,
He who feared nought will fear aught never,
Left alone in the forest forever and ever.
Then, as we fare on our way to the shore
Sudden the torches cease to roar:
For cleaving the darkness remote and still
Comes a wind with a rushing, harp-like thrill,
The sound of wings hurled and furled and unfurled,
The wings of the Angel who gathers the souls from the wastes of
the world.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GGXHH XDFDIEIXJGJX CCKK LLMMNXN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (25%) |
Metre | 1111011101 111111111 10111111011001 11100110101 1011101001 001110010101 11101101101 1001110101 101101101001 1010111101 1111111111 11111 111111101001 1101101011011 0111011110101 111011100101 1011110110101 1001001 1111 1001 110110 1011 10101 10111 1010 01001 101001 11111 0101100 111011011 010101101011 111111110 1010010010010 11111101101 10010111 110100101 1011010111 0111101001 011010110011011 01 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,541 |
Words | 297 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 5, 12, 4, 7 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 178 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:29 min read
- 51 Views
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