Analysis of Bellambi's Maid

Henry Kendall 1839 (Australia) – 1882 (Sydney)



Amongst the thunder-splintered caves
On Ocean's long and windy shore,
I catch the voice of dying waves
Below the ridges old and hoar;
The spray descends in silver showers,
And lovely whispers come and go,
Like echoes from the happy hours
I never more may hope to know!
The low mimosa droops with locks
Of yellow hair, in dewy glade,
While far above the caverned rocks
I hear the dark Bellambi's Maid!

The moonlight dreams upon the sail
That drives the restless ship to sea;
The clouds troop past the mountain vale,
And sink like spirits down the lee;
The foggy peak of Corrimal,
Uplifted, bears the pallid glow
That streams from yonder airy hall
And robes the sleeping hills below;
The wandering meteors of the sky
Beneath the distant waters wade,
While mystic music hurries by -
The songs of dark Bellambi's Maid!

Why comes your voice, you lonely One,
Along the wild harp's wailing strings?
Have not our hours of meeting gone,
Like fading dreams on phantom wings?
Are not the grasses round your grave
Yet springing green and fresh to view?
And does the gleam on Ocean's wave
Tide gladness now to me and you?
Oh! cold and cheerless falls the night
On withered hearts and hopes decayed:
And I have seen but little light
Since died the dark Bellambi's Maid!


Scheme ABABCDCDEFEF GHGHGDXDIFIF XJXJKLKLMFMF
Poetic Form
Metre 01010101 11010101 11011101 01010101 010101010 01010101 110101010 11011111 01010111 11010101 1101011 110111 0110101 11010111 01110101 01110101 010111 10010101 11110101 01010101 0100100101 01010101 11010101 011111 11111101 01011101 1110101101 11011101 11010111 11010111 01011101 1111101 1101101 11010101 01111101 110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,228
Words 226
Sentences 10
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 12, 12, 12
Lines Amount 36
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 333
Words per stanza (avg) 75
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:09 min read
95

Henry Kendall

Thomas Henry Kendall was a nineteenth-century Australian author and bush poet, who was particularly known for his poems and tales set in a natural environment setting. more…

All Henry Kendall poems | Henry Kendall Books

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