Analysis of New-Year's Eve
Eugene Field 1850 (St. Louis) – 1895 (Chicago)
Good old days--dear old days
When my heart beat high and bold--
When the things of earth seemed full of life,
And the future a haze of gold!
Oh, merry was I that winter night,
And gleeful our little one's din,
And tender the grace of my darling's face
As we watched the new year in.
But a voice--a spectre's, that mocked at love--
Came out of the yonder hall;
'Tick-tock, tick-tock!' 't was the solemn clock
That ruefully croaked to all.
Yet what knew we of the griefs to be
In the year we longed to greet?
Love--love was the theme of the sweet, sweet dream
I fancied might never fleet!
But the spectre stood in that yonder gloom,
And these were the words it spake,
'Tick-tock, tick-tock'--and they seemed to mock
A heart about to break.
'T is new-year's eve, and again I watch
In the old familiar place,
And I'm thinking again of that old time when
I looked on a dear one's face.
Never a little one hugs my knee
And I hear no gleeful shout--
I am sitting alone by the old hearthstone,
Watching the old year out.
But I welcome the voice in yonder gloom
That solemnly calls to me:
'Tick-tock, tick-tock!'--for so the clock
Tells of a life to be;
'Tick-tock, tick-tock!'-'tis so the clock
Tells of eternity.
Scheme | XAXAXBCBXDEDFGXG HIEI XCXCFJBJHFEFEF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111 1111101 101111111 00100111 110111101 010101011 010011111 1110110 101011111 1110101 1111110101 1100111 111110111 0011111 1110110111 1101101 1010101101 0100111 111101111 010111 1111100111 0010101 01100111111 1110111 100101111 0111101 1110011011 100111 1110010101 1100111 11111101 110111 11111101 110100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,180 |
Words | 230 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 16, 4, 14 |
Lines Amount | 34 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 303 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 75 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:11 min read
- 79 Views
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"New-Year's Eve" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 16 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/13017/new-year%27s-eve>.
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