Analysis of Earlier Poems : Sunrise On The Hills

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)



I stood upon the hills, when heaven's wide arch
Was glorious with the sun's returning march,
And woods were brightened, and soft gales
Went forth to kiss the sun-clad vales.
The clouds were far beneath me; bathed in light,
They gathered midway round the wooded height,
And, in their fading glory, shone
Like hosts in battle overthrown.
As many a pinnacle, with shifting glance.
Through the gray mist thrust up its shattered lance,
And rocking on the cliff was left
The dark pine blasted, bare, and cleft.
The veil of cloud was lifted, and below
Glowed the rich valley, and the river's flow
Was darkened by the forest's shade,
Or glistened in the white cascade;
Where upward, in the mellow blush of day,
The noisy bittern wheeled his spiral way.

I heard the distant waters dash,
I saw the current whirl and flash,
And richly, by the blue lake's silver beach,
The woods were bending with a silent reach.
Then o'er the vale, with gentle swell,
The music of the village bell
Came sweetly to the echo-giving hills;
And the wild horn, whose voice the woodland fills,
Was ringing to the merry shout,
That faint and far the glen sent out,
Where, answering to the sudden shot, thin smoke,
Through thick-leaved branches, from the dingle broke.

If thou art worn and hard beset
With sorrows, that thou wouldst forget,
If thou wouldst read a lesson, that will keep
Thy heart from fainting and thy soul from sleep,
Go to the woods and hills! No tears
Dim the sweet look that Nature wears.


Scheme AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII JJKKLLMMNNOO PPQQRR
Poetic Form
Metre 11010111011 11001010101 01010011 11110111 0101011101 110110101 00110101 1101001 11001001101 1011111101 01010111 01110101 0111110001 1011000101 11010101 11000101 1100010111 010111101 11010101 11010101 0101011101 0101010101 110011101 01010101 1101010101 001111011 11010101 11010111 11001010111 1111010101 11110101 11011101 1111010111 1111001111 11010111 10111101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,449
Words 264
Sentences 10
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 18, 12, 6
Lines Amount 36
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 386
Words per stanza (avg) 87
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:21 min read
180

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. more…

All Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poems | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Books

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