Analysis of Norse lullaby

Eugene Field 1850 (St. Louis) – 1895 (Chicago)



The sky is dark and the hills are white
As the storm-king speeds from the north to-night,
And this is the song the storm-king sings,
As over the world his cloak he flings:
 "Sleep, sleep, little one, sleep;"
He rustles his wings and gruffly sings:
 "Sleep, little one, sleep."

On yonder mountain-side a vine
Clings at the foot of a mother pine;
The tree bends over the trembling thing,
And only the vine can hear her sing:
 "Sleep, sleep, little one, sleep;
What shall you fear when I am here?
 Sleep, little one, sleep."

The king may sing in his bitter flight,
The tree may croon to the vine to-night,
But the little snowflake at my breast
Liketh the song I sing the best,--
 Sleep, sleep, little one, sleep;
Weary thou art, anext my heart
 Sleep, little one, sleep.


Scheme aabbCbC ddeeCxC aaffCxC
Poetic Form
Metre 011100111 1011110111 011010111 110011111 111011 11110101 11011 11010101 110110101 0111001001 010011101 111011 11111111 11011 011101101 011110111 10101111 1011101 111011 1011111 11011
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 755
Words 145
Sentences 5
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 7, 7, 7
Lines Amount 21
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 192
Words per stanza (avg) 46
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 04, 2023

42 sec read
127

Eugene Field

Eugene Field, Sr. was an American writer, best known for his children's poetry and humorous essays. more…

All Eugene Field poems | Eugene Field Books

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