Analysis of Stanzas Composed During A Thunderstorm
George Gordon Lord Byron 1788 (London) – 1824 (Missolonghi, Aetolia)
Chill and mirk is the nightly blast,
Where Pindus' mountains rise,
And angry clouds are pouring fast
The vengeance of the skies.
Our guides are gone, our hope is lost,
And lightnings, as they play,
But show where rocks our path have crost,
Or gild the torrent's spray.
Is yon a cot I saw, though low?
When lightning broke the gloom---
How welcome were its shade!---ah, no!
'Tis but a Turkish tomb.
Through sounds of foaming waterfalls,
I hear a voice exclaim---
My way-worn countryman, who calls
On distant England's name.
A shot is fired---by foe or friend?
Another---'tis to tell
The mountain-peasants to descend,
And lead us where they dwell.
Oh! who in such a night will dare
To tempt the wilderness?
And who 'mid thunder-peals can hear
Our signal of distress?
And who that heard our shouts would rise
To try the dubious road?
Nor rather deem from nightly cries
That outlaws were abroad.
Clouds burst, skies flash, oh, dreadful hour!
More fiercely pours the storm!
Yet here one thought has still the power
To keep my bosom warm.
While wandering through each broken path,
O'er brake and craggy brow;
While elements exhaust their wrath,
Sweet Florence, where art thou?
Not on the sea, not on the sea---
Thy bark hath long been gone:
Oh, may the storm that pours on me,
Bow down my head alone!
Full swiftly blew the swift Siroc,
When last I pressed thy lip;
And long ere now, with foaming shock,
Impelled thy gallant ship.
Now thou art safe; nay, long ere now
Hast trod the shore of Spain;
'Twere hard if aught so fair as thou
Should linger on the main.
And since I now remember thee
In darkness and in dread,
As in those hours of revelry
Which Mirth and Music sped;
Do thou, amid the fair white walls,
If Cadiz yet be free,
At times from out her latticed halls
Look o'er the dark blue sea;
Then think upon Calypso's isles,
Endeared by days gone by;
To others give a thousand smiles,
To me a single sigh.
And when the admiring circle mark
The paleness of thy face,
A half-formed tear, a transient spark
Of melancholy grace,
Again thou'lt smile, and blushing shun
Some coxcomb's raillery;
Nor own for once thou thought'st on one,
Who ever thinks on thee.
Though smile and sigh alike are vain,
When severed hearts repine
My spirit flies o'er Mount and Main
And mourns in search of thine.
Scheme | ABAB XCAC DEDE FGFG HIHI JXXX BXBX KLKL MNMN OPOX QRQR NSNS OTOT FOFO UVUV QWQW XJXO SPSX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (72%) |
Metre | 10110101 11101 01011101 010101 1011110111 010111 111110111 11011 11011111 110101 11001111 110101 1111010 110101 11110011 110101 011101111 010111 01010101 011111 11010111 110100 01110111 1010101 011110111 1101001 11011101 11001 111111010 110101 111111010 111101 110011101 1010101 11000111 110111 11011101 111111 11011111 111101 1101011 111111 01111101 011101 11111111 110111 11111111 110101 01110101 010001 101101100 110101 11010111 101111 1111011 1100111 110111 011111 11010101 110101 010010101 01111 01110101 11001 01110101 111 111111111 110111 11010111 11011 110110101 010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,331 |
Words | 416 |
Sentences | 25 |
Stanzas | 18 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 72 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 98 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:07 min read
- 90 Views
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"Stanzas Composed During A Thunderstorm" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 22 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15200/stanzas-composed-during-a-thunderstorm>.
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