Analysis of The brook
Eugene Field 1850 (St. Louis) – 1895 (Chicago)
I looked in the brook and saw a face -
Heigh-ho, but a child was I!
There were rushes and willows in that place,
And they clutched at the brook as the brook ran by;
And the brook it ran its own sweet way,
As a child doth run in heedless play,
And as it ran I heard it say:
"Hasten with me
To the roistering sea
That is wroth with the flame of the morning sky!"
I look in the brook and see a face -
Heigh-ho, but the years go by!
The rushes are dead in the old-time place,
And the willows I knew when a child was I.
And the brook it seemeth to me to say,
As ever it stealeth on its way -
Solemnly now, and not in play:
"Oh, come with me
To the slumbrous sea
That is gray with the peace of the evening sky!"
Heigh-ho, but the years go by -
I would to God that a child were I!
Scheme | ababcccddb aBabcccddb Bb |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110010101 1110111 101001011 01110110111 001111111 10111011 01111111 1011 1011 11110110101 110010101 1110111 0101100111 0011110111 001111111 11011111 10010101 1111 1011 11110110101 1110111 111110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 760 |
Words | 172 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 10, 2 |
Lines Amount | 22 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 192 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 56 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 34 Views
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"The brook" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/13058/the-brook>.
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