Analysis of Destiny
Emma Lazarus 1849 (New York City) – 1887 (New York City)
Paris, from throats of iron, silver, brass,
Joy-thundering cannon, blent with chiming bells,
And martial strains, the full-voiced pæan swells.
The air is starred with flags, the chanted mass
Throngs all the churches, yet the broad streets swarm
With glad-eyed groups who chatter, laugh, and pass,
In holiday confusion, class with class.
And over all the spring, the sun-floods warm!
In the Imperial palace that March morn,
The beautiful young mother lay and smiled;
For by her side just breathed the Prince, her child,
Heir to an empire, to the purple born,
Crowned with the Titan's name that stirs the heart
Like a blown clarion--one more Bonaparte.
Born to the purple, lying stark and dead,
Transfixed with poisoned spears, beneath the sun
Of brazen Africa! Thy grave is one,
Fore-fated youth (on whom were visited
Follies and sins not thine), whereat the world,
Heartless howe'er it be, will pause to sing
A dirge, to breathe a sigh, a wreath to fling
Of rosemary and rue with bay-leaves curled.
Enmeshed in toils ambitious, not thine own,
Immortal, loved boy-Prince, thou tak'st thy stand
With early doomed Don Carlos, hand in hand
With mild-browed Arthur, Geoffrey's murdered son.
Louis the Dauphin lifts his thorn-ringed head,
And welcomes thee, his brother, 'mongst the dead.
Scheme | ABBACAACDEEDFF GHHXIJJIXKKHGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011110101 1100101111 0101011111 0111110101 1101010111 1111110101 010010111 0101010111 00010010111 0100110101 1101110101 11110010101 110111101 1011001110 1101010101 0111010101 1101001111 1101110100 100111101 1010111111 0111010111 110011111 0101010111 01011111111 1101110101 1111010101 1001011111 0101110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,300 |
Words | 215 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 14, 14 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 504 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 106 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 13, 2023
- 1:05 min read
- 99 Views
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"Destiny" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/12669/destiny>.
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