Analysis of Envoy

Francis Thompson 1859 (City of Preston, Lancashire) – 1907 (London)



Go, songs, for ended is our brief, sweet play;
Go, children of swift joy and tardy sorrow:
And some are sung, and that was yesterday,
And some unsung, and that may be to-morrow.

Go forth; and if it be o'er stony way,
Old joy can lend what newer grief must borrow:
And it was sweet, and that was yesterday,
And sweet is sweet, though purchas-ed with sorrow.

Go, songs, and come not back from your far way:
And if men ask you why ye smile and sorrow,
Tell them ye grieve, for your hearts know To-day,
Tell them ye smile, for your eyes know To-morrow.


Scheme ABAB ABAB ABAB
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 11110110111 11011101010 011101110 01010111110 11011110101 1111110111 011101110 0111111110 1101111111 01111111010 1111111111 11111111110
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 545
Words 107
Sentences 4
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 138
Words per stanza (avg) 35
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
46

Francis Thompson

The Rt Rev Francis William Banahene Thompson was Bishop of Accra from 1983 to 1996. more…

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