Analysis of Evening Hymn
Henry Kendall 1839 (Australia) – 1882 (Sydney)
The crag-pent breezes sob and moan where hidden waters glide;
And twilight wanders round the earth with slow and shadowy stride.
The gleaming clouds, above the brows of western steeps uphurled,
Look like the spires of some fair town that bounds a brighter world.
Lo, from the depths of yonder wood, where many a blind creek strays,
The pure Australian moon comes forth, enwreathed with silver haze.
The rainy mists are trooping down the folding hills behind,
And distant torrent-voices rise like bells upon the wind.
The echeu's* songs are dying, with the flute-bird's mellow tone,
And night recalls the gloomy owl to rove the wilds alone;
Night, holy night, in robes of blue, with golden stars encrowned,
Ascending mountains like to walls that hem an Eden round.
Oh, lovely moon! oh, holy night! how good your God must be,
When, through the glories of your light, He stoops to look at me!
Oh, glittering clouds and silvery shapes, that vanish one by one!
Is not the kindness of our Lord too great to think upon?
If human song could flow as free as His created breeze,
When, sloping from some hoary height, it sweeps the vacant seas,
Then should my voice to heaven ascend, my tuneful lyre be strung,
And music sweeter than the winds should roam these glens among.
Go by, ye golden-footed hours, to your mysterious bourne,
And hide the sins ye bear from hence, so that they ne'er return.
Teach me, ye beauteous stars, to kiss kind Mercy's chastening rod,
And, looking up from Nature's face, to worship Nature's God.
Scheme | AAAXBBCCDDAX EEXXFFGGXXHH |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01110101110101 01101011101001 0101010111011 11011111110101 110111011100111 0101011111101 01011101010101 01010101110101 0111101011101 0110101110101 1101011111011 01010111111101 11011101111111 11010111111111 1100101001110111 110101101111101 11011111110101 11011101110101 111111001110111 01010101111101 1111010101101001 01011111111101 11111111111 01011101110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,499 |
Words | 266 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 12 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 50 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 595 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 132 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:21 min read
- 121 Views
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"Evening Hymn" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17485/evening-hymn>.
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