Analysis of Thoughts at the Trysting Stile

Francis Ledwidge 1887 (Slane) – 1917 (Boezinge)



Come, May, and hang a white flag on each thorn,
Make truce with earth and heaven; the April child
Now hides her sulky face deep in the morn
Of your new flowers by the water wild
And in the ripples of the rising grass,
And rushes bent to let the south wind pass
On with her tumult of swift nomad wings,
And broken domes of downy dandelion.
Only in spasms now the blackbird sings.
The hour is all a-dream.

Nets of woodbine
Throw woven shadows over dreaming flowers,
And dreaming, a bee-luring lily bends
Its tender bell where blue dyke-water cowers
Thro' briars and folded ferns, and gripping ends
Of wild convolvulus.

The lark's sky-way
Is desolate.
I watch an apple-spray
Beckon across a wall as if it knew
I wait the calling of the orchard maid.
Inly I fell she will come in blue,
With yellow on her hair, and two curls strayed
Out of her comb's loose stocks, and I shall steal
Behind and lay my hands upon her eyes,
'Look not, but be my Psyche! '

And her peal
Of laughter will ring far, and as she tries
For freedom I will call her names of flowers
That climb up walls; then thro' the twilight hours
We'll talk about the loves of ancient queens,
And kisses like wasp-honey, false and sweet,
And how we are entangled in love's snares
Like wind-looped flowers.


Scheme ABABCCDXDX AEFCFC GXGHIHIJKX JKEEXXXE
Poetic Form
Metre 1101011111 11110100101 110111001 1111010101 0001010101 0101110111 110101111 0101110100 1001010101 0101101 111 1101101010 0100110101 1101111101 1101010101 111 0111 1100 111101 1001011111 1101010101 11111101 1101010111 1101110111 0101110101 1111110 001 1101110111 11011101110 1111110110 1101011101 0101110101 0111010011 11110
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,236
Words 237
Sentences 9
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 10, 6, 10, 8
Lines Amount 34
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 246
Words per stanza (avg) 59
Font size:
 

Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:12 min read
105

Francis Ledwidge

Francis Edward Ledwidge was an Irish war poet from County Meath. more…

All Francis Ledwidge poems | Francis Ledwidge Books

0 fans

Discuss this Francis Ledwidge poem analysis with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Thoughts at the Trysting Stile" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 17 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/13841/thoughts-at-the-trysting-stile>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    May 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    14
    days
    7
    hours
    7
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    The haiku is originally from ______.
    A Indonesia
    B Ireland
    C China
    D Japan