Analysis of The Two Locks Of Hair. From The German Of Pfeizer

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



A Youth, light-hearted and content,
I wander through the world
Here, Arab-like, is pitched my tent
And straight again is furled.

Yet oft I dream, that once a wife
Close in my heart was locked,
And in the sweet repose of life
A blessed child I rocked.

I wake! Away that dream,--away!
Too long did it remain!
So long, that both by night and day
It ever comes again.

The end lies ever in my thought;
To a grave so cold and deep
The mother beautiful was brought;
Then dropt the child asleep.

But now the dream is wholly o'er,
I bathe mine eyes and see;
And wander through the world once more,
A youth so light and free.

Two locks--and they are wondrous fair--
Left me that vision mild;
The brown is from the mother's hair,
The blond is from the child.

And when I see that lock of gold,
Pale grows the evening-red;
And when the dark lock I behold,
I wish that I were dead.


Scheme AXAA BCBC DXDX EFEF XGXG HIHI JKJK
Poetic Form Quatrain  (86%)
Metre 01110010 110101 11011111 010111 11111101 101111 00010111 01111 11011101 111101 11111101 110101 01110011 1011101 01010011 110101 110111010 111101 01010111 011101 11011101 111101 01110101 011101 01111111 110101 01011101 111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 848
Words 171
Sentences 11
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 94
Words per stanza (avg) 24
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

51 sec read
80

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…

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