Analysis of George L. Stearns
He has done the work of a true man,--
Crown him, honor him, love him.
Weep, over him, tears of woman,
Stoop manliest brows above him!
O dusky mothers and daughters,
Vigils of mourning keep for him!
Up in the mountains, and down by the waters,
Lift up your voices and weep for him,
For the warmest of hearts is frozen,
The freest of hands is still;
And the gap in our picked and chosen
The long years may not fill.
No duty could overtask him,
No need his will outrun;
Or ever our lips could ask him,
His hands the work had done.
He forgot his own soul for others,
Himself to his neighbor lending;
He found the Lord in his suffering brothers,
And not in the clouds descending.
So the bed was sweet to die on,
Whence he saw the doors wide swung
Against whose bolted iron
The strength of his life was flung.
And he saw ere his eye was darkened
The sheaves of the harvest-bringing,
And knew while his ear yet hearkened
The voice of the reapers singing.
Ah, well! The world is discreet;
There are plenty to pause and wait;
But here was a man who set his feet
Sometimes in advance of fate;
Plucked off the old bark when the inner
Was slow to renew it,
And put to the Lord's work the sinner
When saints failed to do it.
Never rode to the wrong's redressing
A worthier paladin.
Shall he not hear the blessing,
'Good and faithful, enter in!'
Scheme | XABA CACA BDBD ABAB CECE XFXF GEGE HIHI JKJK ELEL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 111011011 1110111 11011110 111011 1110010 10110111 10010011010 111100111 101011110 0101111 0010101010 011111 110111 111101 110101111 110111 101111110 01111010 11010110010 01001010 10111111 1110111 0111010 0111111 011111110 01101010 0111111 0110110 1101101 11101101 111011111 0100111 110111010 111011 011011010 111111 101101010 0100100 1111010 1010100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,300 |
Words | 260 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 103 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 15, 2023
- 1:18 min read
- 114 Views
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"George L. Stearns" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22906/george-l.-stearns>.
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