Analysis of The Old Year And The New
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
As one in sorrow looks upon
The dead face of a loyal friend,
By the dim light of New Year's dawn
I saw the Old Year end.
Upon the pallid features lay
The dear old smile--so warm and bright
Ere thus its cheer had died away
In ashes of delight.
The hands that I had learned to love
With strength of passion half divine,
Were folded now, all heedless of
The emptiness of mine.
The eyes that once had shed their bright
Sweet looks like sunshine, now were dull,
And ever lidded from the light
That made them beautiful.
The chimes of bells were in the air,
And sounds of mirth in hall and street,
With pealing laughter everywhere
And throb of dancing feet:
The mirth and the convivial din
Of revelers in wanton glee,
With tunes of harp and violin
In tangled harmony.
But with a sense of nameless dread,
I turned me, from the merry face
Of this newcomer, to my dead;
And, kneeling there a space,
I sobbed aloud, all tearfully:--
By this dear face so fixed and cold,
O Lord, let not this New Year be
As happy as the old!
Scheme | XAXA BCBC DEDE CFCF GHGH IJIJ KLKL JMJM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 11010101 01110101 10111111 110111 01010101 01111101 11111101 010101 01111111 11110101 0101111 010011 01111111 1111101 0101101 111100 01110001 01110101 111010 011101 010001001 11000101 11110001 010100 11011101 11110101 1110111 010101 11011100 11111101 11111111 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 994 |
Words | 200 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 99 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 86 Views
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