Analysis of All Saints
Edith Wharton 1862 (New York City) – 1937 (Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt)
All so grave and shining see they come
From the blissful ranks of the forgiven,
Though so distant wheels the nearest crystal dome,
And the spheres are seven.
Are you in such haste to come to earth,
Shining ones, the Wonder on your brow,
To the low poor places of your birth,
And the day that must be darkness now?
Does the heart still crave the spot it yearned on
In the grey and mortal years,
The pure flame the smoky hearth it burned on,
The clear eye its tears?
Was there, in the narrow range of living,
After all the wider scope?
In the old old rapture of forgiving,
In the long long flight of hope?
Come you, from free sweep across the spaces,
To the irksome bounds of mortal law,
From the all-embracing Vision, to some face’s
Look that never saw?
Never we, imprisoned here, had sought you,
Lured you with the ancient bait of pain,
Down the silver current of the light-years brought you
To the beaten round again—
Is it you, perchance, who ache to strain us
Dumbly to the dim transfigured breast,
Or with tragic gesture would detain us
From the age-long search for rest?
Is the labour then more glorious than the laurel,
The learning than the conquered thought?
Is the meed of men the righteous quarrel,
Not the justice wrought?
Long ago we guessed it, faithful ghosts,
Proudly chose the present for our scene,
And sent out indomitable hosts
Day by day to widen our demesne.
Sit you by our hearth-stone, lone immortals,
Share again the bitter wine of life!
Well we know, beyond the peaceful portals
There is nothing better than our strife,
Nought more thrilling than the cry that calls us,
Spent and stumbling, to the conflict vain,
After each disaster that befalls us
Nerves us for a sterner strain.
And, when flood or foeman shakes the sleeper
In his moment’s lapse from pain,
Bids us fold our tents, and flee our kin, and deeper
Drive into the wilderness again.
Scheme | XAXA BCBC DXDX EFEF GHGH IJIK LMLM NONO PXPA QRQR LJLJ SJSK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (75%) |
Metre | 111010111 1010110010 11101010101 001110 110111111 101010111 101110111 001111101 1011101111 0010101 0110101111 01111 1100101110 1010101 0011101010 0011111 1111101010 101011101 101010101110 11101 1010101111 111010111 101010101111 1010101 1110111111 110111 1110101011 1011111 101111001010 01010101 1011101010 10101 101111101 1010101101 011010001 111110101 11110111010 101010111 1110101010 1110101101 1110101111 1010010101 1010101011 1110101 011111010 0110111 11110101101010 101010001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,836 |
Words | 341 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 123 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 28 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:42 min read
- 129 Views
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