Analysis of The Crowing of the Red Cock
Emma Lazarus 1849 (New York City) – 1887 (New York City)
Across the Eastern sky has glowed
The flicker of a blood-red dawn,
Once more the clarion cock has crowed,
Once more the sword of Christ is drawn.
A million burning rooftrees light
The world-wide path of Israel's flight.
Where is the Hebrew's fatherland?
The folk of Christ is sore bestead;
The Son of Man is bruised and banned,
Nor finds whereon to lay his head.
His cup is gall, his meat is tears,
His passion lasts a thousand years.
Each crime that wakes in man the beast,
Is visited upon his kind.
The lust of mobs, the greed of priest,
The tyranny of kings, combined
To root his seed from earth again,
His record is one cry of pain.
When the long roll of Christian guilt
Against his sires and kin is known,
The flood of tears, the life-blood spilt,
The agony of ages shown,
What oceans can the stain remove,
From Christian law and Christian love?
Nay, close the book; not now, not here,
The hideous tale of sin narrate,
Reëchoing in the martyr's ear,
Even he might nurse revengeful hate,
Even he might turn in wrath sublime,
With blood for blood and crime for crime.
Coward? Not he, who faces death,
Who singly against worlds has fought,
For what? A name he may not breathe,
For liberty of prayer and thought.
The angry sword he will not whet,
His nobler task is -- to forget.
Scheme | ABABCC DADXXX EFEFXX GHGHXX IJIJKK XLXLMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01010111 01010111 110100111 11011111 0101011 01111101 110110 0111111 01111101 1111111 11111111 11010101 11110101 11000111 01110111 01001101 11111101 10111111 10111101 01110111 01110111 01001101 11010101 11010101 11011111 01001111 110011 1011111 101110101 11110111 10111101 11001111 11011111 11001101 01011111 11011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,289 |
Words | 239 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 166 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 30, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 120 Views
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"The Crowing of the Red Cock" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/12727/the-crowing-of-the-red-cock>.
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