Analysis of `Oh, if that Rainbow up there!'
Ethel Turner 1870 (Doncaster) – 1958 (Mosman)
Oh, if that rainbow up there,
Spanning the sky past the hill,
Slenderly, tenderly fair
Shining with colours that thrill,
Oh, if that rainbow up there,
Just for a moment could reach
Through the wet slope of the air
Here where I stand on the beach!
Here where the waves wash the strand,
Swing itself lovingly low,
Let me catch fast with one hand,
Climb its frail rigging and go.
Climb its frail rigging and go?
Where is its haven of rest?
Out in the gleam and the glow
Of the blood-red waves of the West?
Or where the isles of the dawn
Lie on an amethyst sea,
Does it drift, pale and forlorn,
Ghost of the glory I see?
Is there, ah, is there a land
Such as the Icelanders say,
Or past the West's ruddy strand
Or on the edge of the day,
Some undiscovered clime
Seen through a cloud's sudden rift,
Where all the rainbows of Time
Slowly and silently drift?
Some happy port of a sea
Never a world's sail has made,
Where till the earth shadows flee
Never a rainbow may fade.
Oh, if that rainbow up there,
Just for a moment would reach,
Through the wet slope of the air
Here where I stand on the beach.
Here where the waves wash the strand
Swing itself lovingly low,
Let me catch fast with one hand,
Climb its frail rigging and go!
Scheme | AbabAcAC DEDEEfef xgxgdhdh ijijgkgk AcACDEDE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (28%) |
Metre | 111111 1001101 11001 101111 111111 1101011 1011101 1111101 1101101 1011001 1111111 1111001 1111001 1111011 1001001 10111101 1101101 1111001 1111001 1101011 1111101 11011 1101101 1101101 10101 1101101 110111 1001001 1101101 1001111 110111 100111 111111 1101011 1011101 1111101 1101101 1011001 1111111 1111001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,231 |
Words | 239 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 190 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 47 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 105 Views
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"`Oh, if that Rainbow up there!'" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/12862/%60oh%2C-if-that-rainbow-up-there%21%27>.
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