Analysis of Florence Nightingale
Emma Lazarus 1849 (New York City) – 1887 (New York City)
UPON the whitewashed walls
A woman's shadow falls,
A woman walketh o'er the darksome floors.
A soft, angelic smile
Lighteth her face the while,
In passing through the dismal corridors.
And now and then there slips
A word from out her lips,
More sweet and grateful to those listening ears
Than the most plaintive tale
Of the sad nightingale,
Whose name and tenderness this woman bears.
Her presence in the room
Of agony and gloom,
No fretful murmurs, no coarse words profane;
For while she standeth there,
All words are hushed save prayer;
She seems God's angel weeping o'er man's pain.
And some of them arise,
With eager, tearful eyes,
From off their couch to see her passing by.
Some, e'en too weak for this,
Can only stoop and kiss
Her shadow, and fall back content to die.
No monument of stone
Needs this heroic one,—
Her name is graven on each noble heart;
And in all after years
Her praise will be the tears
Which at that name from quivering lids will start.
And those who live not now,
To see the sainted brow,
And the angelic smile before it flits for aye,
They in the future age
Will kiss the storied page
Whereon the shadow of her life will lie.
Scheme | AAXBBX CCDEEF GGHIIH JJKLLK XXMDFM NNKOOK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01011 01011 010110011 01101 10101 0101010100 010111 011101 11010111001 101101 101100 1101001101 010001 110001 1101011101 11111 111111 11110101011 011101 110101 1111110101 1111111 110101 010111011 110011 110101 0111011101 001101 011101 11111100111 011111 110101 00101011111 100101 110101 10110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,130 |
Words | 215 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 151 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 35 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 740 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Florence Nightingale" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/12676/florence-nightingale>.
Discuss this Emma Lazarus poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In