Analysis of Come down, O Maid



COME down, O maid, from yonder mountain height:
What pleasure lives in height (the shepherd sang),
In height and cold, the splendour of the hills?
But cease to move so near the Heavens, and cease
To glide a sunbeam by the blasted Pine,
To sit a star upon the sparkling spire;
And come, for Love is of the valley, come,
For Love is of the valley, come thou down
And find him; by the happy threshold, he,
Or hand in hand with Plenty in the maize,
Or red with spirted purple of the vats,
Or foxlike in the vine; nor cares to walk
With Death and Morning on the silver horns,
Nor wilt thou snare him in the white ravine,
Nor find him dropt upon the firths of ice,
That huddling slant in furrow-cloven falls
To roll the torrent out of dusky doors:
But follow; let the torrent dance thee down
To find him in the valley; let the wild
Lean-headed Eagles yelp alone, and leave
The monstrous ledges there to slope, and spill
Their thousand wreaths of dangling water-smoke,
That like a broken purpose waste in air:
So waste not thou; but come; for all the vales
Await thee; azure pillars of the hearth
Arise to thee; the children call, and I
Thy shepherd pipe, and sweet is every sound,
Sweeter thy voice, but every sound is sweet;
Myriads of rivulets hurrying thro' the lawn,
The moan of doves in immemorial elms,
And murmuring of innumerable bees.


Scheme ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQHRSTUVWXYZ1 2 3 4
Poetic Form
Metre 1111110101 1101010101 010101101 11111101001 110110101 1101010101 0111110101 1111010111 011101011 1101110001 111110101 110011111 1101010101 1111100101 1111010111 1100101011 110101111 1101010111 1110010101 1101010101 0101011101 11011100101 1101010101 1111111101 0111010101 0111010101 11010111001 10111100111 111100101 0111001001 01001010001
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,345
Words 250
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 31
Lines Amount 31
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 1,043
Words per stanza (avg) 248
Font size:
 

Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 17, 2023

1:15 min read
94

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular British poets.  more…

All Alfred Lord Tennyson poems | Alfred Lord Tennyson Books

13 fans

Discuss this Alfred Lord Tennyson poem analysis with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Come down, O Maid" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/966/come-down%2C-o-maid>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    April 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    3
    days
    8
    hours
    14
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    Who wrote the poem "The Waste Land"?
    A W.H. Auden
    B T.S. Eliot
    C Ezra Pound
    D Sylvia Plath