Analysis of Waiting and Wishing

Henry Kendall 1839 (Australia) – 1882 (Sydney)



I loiter by this surging sea,
Here, by this surging, sooming sea,
Here, by this wailing, wild-faced sea,
Dreaming through the dreamy night;
Yearning for a strange delight!
Will it ever, ever, ever fly to me,
By this surging sea,
By this surging, sooming sea,
By this wailing, wild-faced sea?

I know some gentle spirit lives,
Some loving, lonely spirit lives,
Some melancholy spirit lives,
Walking o'er the earth for me,
Searching round the world for me!
Will she ever, ever, ever hither come?
Where the waters roam,
Where the sobbing waters roam!
Where the raving waters roam!

All worn and wasted by the storms,
All gapped and fractured by the storms,
All split and splintered by the storms,
Overhead the caverns groan,
Gloomy, ghastly caverns groan! -
Will she ever, ever, ever fill this heart?
Peace, O longing heart!
Peace, O longing, beating heart!
Peace, O beating, weary heart!


Scheme AAABBAAAA CCCAAXDDD EEEFFGGGG
Poetic Form
Metre 11011101 1111011 11110111 1010101 1010101 11101010111 11101 111011 1110111 11110101 11010101 1100101 10100111 1010111 11101010101 10101 1010101 1010101 11010101 11010101 11010101 1010101 1010101 11101010111 11101 1110101 1110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 865
Words 152
Sentences 12
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 9, 9, 9
Lines Amount 27
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 228
Words per stanza (avg) 50
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

45 sec read
100

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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