Analysis of A Mother's Wail
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
The sweet young Spring walks over the earth,
It flushes and glows on moor and lea;
The birds are singing in careless mirth,
The brook flows cheerily on to the sea;
And I know that the flowers are blooming now
Over my beautiful darling's brow:
Blooming and blowing in perfume now
Over my poor lost darling's brow.
The breath of the passionate Summer turns
The green of the hills to a deeper dye;
The wind from the south land blows and burns,
The sun grows red in the brazen sky;
And I know that the long, dank grasses wave
Over my beautiful darling's grave:
Rise and fall, and lift and wave
Over my darling's narrow grave.
The days flow on, and the summer dies,
And glorious Autumn takes the crown;
And toward the south the robin flies,
And the green of the hills grows dull and brown;
And the leaves, all purple, and gold, and red,
Drift over my precious darling's bed:
Drift and flutter, all gold and red,
Over my darling's lowly bed.
The Winter comes with its chilling snows,
And wraps the world in a spotless shroud;
And cold from the north the wild wind blows,
And the tempest rages fierce and loud;
It shrieks, and sobs, and sighs, and weeps
Over the mound where my darling sleeps:
In pity, it sobs, and sighs, and weeps
Over the mound where my lost one sleeps.
He was so young, and fair, and brave:
The pride of my bosom-my heart's best joy;
And he lieth now in a drunkard's grave;
My beautiful darling, my only boy:
But down in my heart of hearts, I know
He has gone where his tempters never can go:
To heaven his soul has gone, I know,
Where the soul of his tempters never can go.
They charmed him into their licensed hell,
They gave him rum, and his eye grew wild;
And lower and lower down he fell,
Till they made a fiend of my precious child:
May the curses of God fall on the soul
Who gave my darling the poison bowl!
Ay, curses dark and deep on the soul
Who tempted my darling to lift the bowl!
Scheme | ABABCCCC DEDEFFFF GHGHIIII JKJKLLLL FMFMNNNN OPOPQQQQ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011111001 110011101 011100101 01111101 01110101101 10110011 100100011 1011111 0110100101 0110110101 011011101 011100101 0111011101 10110011 1010101 1011101 011100101 010010101 001010101 0011011101 0011100101 11011011 10101101 1011101 010111101 010100101 011010111 001010101 11010101 100111101 010110101 100111111 11110101 0111101111 01110011 1100101101 110111111 1111111011 110111111 1011111011 111011101 111101111 010010111 1110111101 1010111101 111100101 110101101 1101101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,867 |
Words | 367 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 246 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 61 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:52 min read
- 85 Views
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"A Mother's Wail" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10493/a-mother%27s-wail>.
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