Analysis of A Perfect Strain
Isabella Valancy Crawford 1850 (Dublin) – 1887 (Toronto)
O BID the minstrel tune his harp,
And bid the minstrel sing;
And let it be a perfect strain
That round the hall shall ring:
A strain to throb in lady's heart,
To brim the warrior's soul,
As dew fills up the summer rose
And wine the lordly bowl!
O let the minstrel's voice ring clear,
His touch sweep gay and light;
Nor let his glittering tresses know
One streak of wintry white.
And let the light of ruddy June
Shine in his joyous eyes,
If he would wake the only strain
That never fully dies!
O what the strain that woos the knight
To turn from steed and lance,
The page to turn from hound and hawk,
The maid from lute and dance;
The potent strain, that nigh would draw
The hermit from his cave,
The dryad from the leafy oak,
The mermaid from the wave;
That almost might still charm the hawk
To drop the trembling dove?
O ruddy minstrel, tune thy harp,
And sing of Youthful Love!
Scheme | ABCBXDXD XEXEXFCF EGHGXIXIHJAJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010111 010101 01110011 110111 01110101 11011 11110101 01011 1101111 111101 111100101 111101 01011101 101101 11110101 110101 11011101 111101 01111101 011101 01011111 010111 0110101 01101 1111101 1101001 11010111 011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 860 |
Words | 172 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 12 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 228 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 57 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 52 sec read
- 85 Views
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