Analysis of The Wishing Star.
Isabella Valancy Crawford 1850 (Dublin) – 1887 (Toronto)
Day floated down the sky; a perfect day,
Leaving a footprint of pale primrose gold
Along the west, that when her lover, Night,
Fled with his starry lances in pursuit,
Across the sky, the way she went might shew.
From the faint ting'd ridges of the sea, the Moon
Sprang up like Aphrodite from the wave,
Which as she climb'd the sky still held
Her golden tresses to its swelling breast,
Where wide dispread their quiv'ring glories lay,
(Or as the shield of night, full disk'd and red,
As flowers that look forever towards the Sun),
A terrace with a fountain and an oak
Look'd out upon the sea: The fountain danced
Beside the huge old tree as some slim nymph,
Rob'd in light silver might her frolics shew
Before some hoary king, while high above,
He shook his wild, long locks upon the breeze--
And sigh'd deep sighs of 'All is vanity!'
Behind, a wall of Norman William's time
Rose mellow, hung with ivy, here and there
Torn wide apart to let a casement peer
Upon the terrace. On a carv'd sill I leant
(A fleur-de-lis bound with an English rose)
And look'd above me into two such eyes
As would have dazzl'd from that ancient page
That new old cry that hearts so often write
In their own ashes, 'All is vanity!'
'Know'st thou--' she said, with tender eyes far-fix'd,
On the wide arch that domes our little earth,
'That when a star hurls on with shining wings,
'On some swift message from his throne of light,
'The ready heart may wish, and the ripe fruit--
'Fulfilment--drop into the eager palm?'
'Then let us watch for such a star,' quoth I.
'Nay, love,' she said, ''Tis but an idle tale.'
But some swift feeling smote upon her brow
A rosy shadow. I turn'd and watch'd the sky--
Calmly the cohorts of the night swept on,
Led by the wide-wing'd vesper; and against the moon
Where low her globe trembl'd upon the edge
Of the wide amethyst that clearly paved
The dreamy sapphire of the night, there lay
The jetty spars of some tall ship, that look'd
The night's device upon his ripe-red shield.
And suddenly down towards the moon there ran--
From some high space deep-veil'd in solemn blue,
A little star, a point of trembling gold,
Gone swift as seen. 'My wishing-star,' quoth I,
'Shall tell my wish? Did'st note that little star?
'Its brightness died not, it but disappeared,
'To whirl undim'd thro' space. I wish'd our love
'Might blot the 'All is vanity' from this brief life,
'Burning brightly as that star and winging on
'Thro' unseen space of veil'd Eternity,
'Brightened by Immortality--not lost.'
'Awful and sweet the wish!' she said, and so--
We rested in the silence of content.
Scheme | Text too long |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101010011 10011111 0101110101 111101001 0101011111 10111010101 111010101 11110111 0101011101 11111101 1101111101 110110100101 0101010011 1101010101 0101111111 101101011 0111011101 1111110101 0111111100 0101110101 1101110101 110111011 010101011110 0111111101 0101101111 1111011101 1111111101 0111011100 11111110111 10111110101 1101111101 1111011111 0101110011 11010101 1111110111 1111111101 1111010101 0101110101 1001010111 110111000101 1101100101 1011001101 01010010111 0101111111 0101011111 01001010111 1111110101 01010111001 1111110111 11111111101 110111101 1111111101 110111001111 10101110101 1011110100 101010011 1001011101 1100010110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,534 |
Words | 477 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 58 |
Lines Amount | 58 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,970 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 466 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:27 min read
- 118 Views
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"The Wishing Star." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/19945/the-wishing-star.>.
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