Analysis of Westland Row

James Stephens 1882 (Dublin) – 1950



Every Sunday there's a throng
Of pretty girls, who trot along
In a pious, breathless state
(They are nearly always late)
To the Chapel, where they pray
For the sins of Saturday.

They have frocks of white and blue,
Yellow sashes they have too,
And red ribbons show each head
Tenderly is ringleted;
And the bell rings loud, and the
Railway whistles urgently.

After Chapel they will go,
Walking delicately slow,
Telling still how Father John
Is so good to look upon
And such other grave affairs
As they thought of during prayers.


Scheme AABBXC DDXBXC EEFFGG
Poetic Form
Metre 1001101 11011101 0010101 111011 1010111 1011100 1111101 1010111 0110111 10011 0011100 110100 1010111 1010001 1011101 1111101 0110101 1111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 517
Words 95
Sentences 4
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 140
Words per stanza (avg) 31
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

28 sec read
55

James Stephens

James Stephens was an Irish Republican and the founding member of an originally unnamed revolutionary organisation in Dublin on 17 March 1858, later to become known as the Irish Republican Brotherhood, also referred to as the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood by contemporaries. more…

All James Stephens poems | James Stephens Books

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