Analysis of Over the hills and far away

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



Over the hills and far away,
A little boy steals from his morning play
And under the blossoming apple-tree
He lies and he dreams of the things to be:
Of battles fought and of victories won,
Of wrongs o'erthrown and of great deeds done -
Of the valor that he shall prove some day,
Over the hills and far away -
Over the hills, and far away!

Over the hills and far away
It's, oh, for the toil the livelong day!
But it mattereth not to the soul aflame
With a love for riches and power and fame!
On, 0 man! while the sun is high -
On to the certain joys that lie
Yonder where blazeth the noon of day,
Over the hills and far away -
Over the hills, and far away!

Over the hills and far away,
An old man lingers at close of day;
Now that his journey is almost done,
His battles fought and his victories won -
The old-time honesty and truth,
The trustfulness and the friends of youth,
Home and mother-where are they?
Over the hills and far away -
Over the years, and far away!


Scheme AabbccaAA AaddeeaAA AaccffaAa
Poetic Form
Metre 10010101 0101111101 0100100101 1101110111 1101011001 11101111 1010111111 10010101 10010101 10010101 11101011 111110101 10111001001 1110111 11010111 10110111 10010101 10010101 10010101 111101111 11110111 1101011001 01110001 0100111 1010111 10010101 10010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 950
Words 195
Sentences 8
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 9, 9, 9
Lines Amount 27
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 247
Words per stanza (avg) 64
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

59 sec read
407

Eugene Field

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

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