Analysis of Carmen Triumphale
Henry Timrod 1828 (Charleston) – 1867 (Columbia)
Go forth and bid the land rejoice,
Yet not too gladly, O my song!
Breathe softly, as if mirth would wrong
The solemn rapture of thy voice.
Be nothing lightly done or said
This happy day! Our joy should flow
Accordant with the lofty woe
That wails above the noble dead.
Let him whose brow and breast were calm
While yet the battle lay with God,
Look down upon the crimson sod
And gravely wear his mournful palm;
And him, whose heart still weak from fear
Beats all too gayly for the time,
Know that intemperate glee is crime
While one dead hero claims a tear.
Yet go thou forth, my song! and thrill,
With sober joy, the troubled days;
A nation's hymn of grateful praise
May not be hushed for private ill.
Our foes are fallen! Flash, ye wires!
The mighty tidings far and nigh!
Ye cities! write them on the sky
In purple and in emerald fires!
They came with many a haughty boast;
Their threats were heard on every breeze;
They darkened half the neighboring seas;
And swooped like vultures on the coast.
False recreants in all knightly strife,
Their way was wet with woman's tears;
Behind them flamed the toil of years,
And bloodshed stained the sheaves of life.
They fought as tyrants fight, or slaves;
God gave the dastards to our hands;
Their bones are bleaching on the sands,
Or mouldering slow in shallow graves.
What though we hear about our path
The heavens with howls of vengeance rent?
The venom of their hate is spent;
We need not heed their fangless wrath.
Meantime the stream they strove to chain
Now drinks a thousand springs, and sweeps
With broadening breast, and mightier deeps,
And rushes onward to the main;
While down the swelling current glides
Our Ship of State before the blast,
With streamers poured from every mast,
Her thunders roaring from her sides.
Lord! bid the frenzied tempest cease,
Hang out thy rainbow on the sea!
Laugh round her, waves! in silver glee,
And speed her to the port of peace!
Scheme | ABBA CDDC EFFE XGGX HIIH JKKJ LMML NXXN OPPO QRRQ SXAS TUUT VWWV |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (85%) |
Metre | 11010101 11110111 11011111 01010111 11010111 110110111 110101 11010101 11110101 11010111 11010101 01011101 01111111 1111101 110100111 11110101 11111101 11010101 01011101 11111101 1011101110 01010101 11011101 010001010 111100101 110111001 110101001 01110101 1101101 11111101 01110111 0110111 11110111 11011101 11110101 1110101 111101101 010111101 01011111 1111111 1011111 11010101 1100101001 01010101 11010101 101110101 110111001 01010101 11010101 1111101 11010101 01010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,875 |
Words | 349 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 52 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 117 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:45 min read
- 30 Views
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"Carmen Triumphale" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18220/carmen-triumphale>.
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