Analysis of Fragments

George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)



Open horizons round,
O mounting mind, to scenes unsung,
Wherein shall walk a lusty Time:
Our Earth is young;
Of measure without bound;
Infinite are the heights to climb,
The depths to sound.

A wilding little stubble flower
The sickle scorned which cut for wheat,
Such was our hope in that dark hour
When nought save uses held the street,
And daily pleasures, daily needs,
With barren vision, looked ahead.
And still the same result of seeds
Gave likeness 'twixt the live and dead.

From labours through the night, outworn,
Above the hills the front of morn
We see, whose eyes to heights are raised,
And the world's wise may deem us crazed.
While yet her lord lies under seas,
She takes us as the wind the trees'
Delighted leafage; all in song
We mount to her, to her belong.

This love of nature, that allures to take
Irregularity for harmony
Of larger scope than our hard measures make,
Cherish it as thy school for when on thee
The ills of life descend.


Scheme ABCBACA DEDEFGFG HHIIJJKK LHLXX
Poetic Form
Metre 100101 11011101 01110101 10111 110011 10010111 0111 010101010 01011111 1110101110 11110101 01010101 11010101 01010111 11010101 111011 01010111 11111111 00111111 11011101 11110101 0101101 11101001 111101111 001001100 11011101101 1011111111 011101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 934
Words 175
Sentences 7
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 7, 8, 8, 5
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 188
Words per stanza (avg) 43
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 28, 2023

52 sec read
48

George Meredith

George Meredith was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times. more…

All George Meredith poems | George Meredith Books

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