Analysis of The Banshee
Alice Guerin Crist 1876 (Clare Castle) – 1941 (Toowoomba)
As we came down the old boreen,
Rose and I – Rose and I,
At vesper time on Sunday e’en,
We heard a banshee cry!
Beyond the churchyard dim and dark,
‘Neath whispering elms, and yew-trees stark,
Where our star shone-a corpse-like spark-
Against the wintry sky.
We heard and shuddered sick with dread,
Rose and I- Rose and I,
As the shrill keening rang o’erhead
Where cloud-wrack floated high.
Our two young hearts long, sorely tried,
By poverty and love denied
Still waiting for some favouring tide,
And now! Death come so nigh.
‘Which of us two is called away
You or I-You or I?”
I heard my patient poor love say,
With bitter plaintive sigh.
‘Neither, dear girl,” I bravely said,
‘To Mary Mother bow your head,
And cry for help to Her instead,
Nor heed the Banshee’s cry’.
We raised our hearts in fervent prayer,
Rose and I-Rose and I,
Nor knew our troubles ended there,
Our happiness came nigh.
For ‘twas the grim old farmer, he-
My only kin, rich, miserly,
Who, dying left his wealth to me-
For whom the banshee cried.
Scheme | ABABCCCB DBDBEEEB FBFBDDDB GBGBHHHE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111011 101101 1101111 110011 0101101 110010111 110110111 010101 11010111 101101 101111 111101 101111101 11000101 1101111 011111 11111101 111111 11110111 110101 10111101 11010111 01111001 11011 111010101 101101 111010101 1010011 11011101 11011100 11011111 110011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,020 |
Words | 191 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 194 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 47 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 29, 2023
- 57 sec read
- 107 Views
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"The Banshee" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1518/the-banshee>.
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