Analysis of There's Work To Be Done

Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919



'Tis the song of the morning,
The words of the sun,
As he swings o'er the mountains:
'There's work to be done:
I must wake up the sleepers,
And banish the night;
I must paint up the heavens,
Tuck the stars out of sight;

'Dry the dew on the meadows,
Put warmth in the air,
Chase the fog from the lowlands,
Stay gloom everywhere.
No pausing, no resting,
There's work to be done.
It is upward and onward,
Still on,' says the sun.

'Tis the song of our soldiers
Who bravely march on:
'There are souls to be gathered,
There's work to be done:
We must wake up the sleepers,
And teach them to think;
We must paint in full horrors
The breakers of drink;

'Dry the tears of the mourners,
Put the cups out of sight,
And, Eastward and Westward,
Proclaim, 'There is light.'
'Tis the Marseillaise of Progress-
There's work to be done,'
The song of our soldiers,
The song of the sun.


Scheme abcBdece xfxfaBgb dxgBdhdh degexBdb
Poetic Form
Metre 1011010 01101 11110010 11111 1111010 01001 1111010 101111 101101 11001 101101 1110 110110 11111 1110010 11101 10111010 11011 1111110 11111 1111010 01111 1110110 01011 1011010 101111 010010 01111 10111 11111 0111010 01101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 844
Words 170
Sentences 6
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 20
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 163
Words per stanza (avg) 41
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

51 sec read
144

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet. more…

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