Analysis of Dramatic Fragment
Henry Timrod 1828 (Charleston) – 1867 (Columbia)
Let the boy have his will! I tell thee, brother,
We treat these little ones too much like flowers,
Training them, in blind selfishness, to deck
Sticks of our poor setting, when they might,
If left to clamber where themselves incline,
Find nobler props to cling to, fitter place,
And sweeter air to bloom in. It is wrong --
Thou striv'st to sow with feelings all thine own,
With thoughts and hopes, anxieties and aims,
Born of thine own peculiar self, and fed
Upon a certain round of circumstance,
A soul as different and distinct from thine
As love of goodness is from love of glory,
Or noble poesy from noble prose.
I could forgive thee, if thou wast of them
Who do their fated parts in this world's business,
Scarce knowing how or why -- for common minds
See not the difference 'twixt themselves and others --
But thou, thou, with the visions which thy youth did cherish
Substantialized upon thy regal brow,
Shouldst boast a deeper insight. We are born,
It is my faith, in miniature completeness,
And like each other only in our weakness.
Even with our mother's milk upon our lips,
Our smiles have different meanings, and our hands
Press with degrees of softness to her bosom.
It is not change -- whatever in the heart
That wears its semblance, we, in looking back,
With gratulation or regret, perceive --
It is not change we undergo, but only
Growth or development. Yes! what is childhood
But after all a sort of golden daylight,
A beautiful and blessed wealth of sunshine,
Wherein the powers and passions of the soul
Sleep starlike but existent, till the night
Of gathering years shall call the slumbers forth,
And they rise up in glory? Early grief,
A shadow like the darkness of eclipse,
Hath sometimes waked them sooner.
Scheme | ABCDEFGHIJKELMNOPBQRSOOTUVWXYLZDE1 D2 3 TA |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10111111110 11110111110 1010110011 1110110111 1111010101 1101111101 0101110111 1111110111 1101010001 1111010101 010101110 01110000111 11110111110 11011101 1101111111 11110101110 1101111101 110100101010 1111010111110 1011101 110101111 11110100010 011101001010 1011010101101 1011100100101 11011101010 111110001 1111010101 1110101 1111101110 1101001111 1101011101 010001111 01010010101 111010101 1100111011 0111010101 011010101 1011110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,702 |
Words | 309 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 39 |
Lines Amount | 39 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,360 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 312 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:33 min read
- 109 Views
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"Dramatic Fragment" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18225/dramatic-fragment>.
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