Analysis of The Red River Voyageur
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)
Out and in the river is winding
The links of its long, red chain,
Through belts of dusky pine-land
And gusty leagues of plain.
Only, at times, a smoke-wreath
With the drifting cloud-rack joins,-
The smoke of the hunting-lodges
Of the wild Assiniboins.
Drearily blows the north-wind
From the land of ice and snow;
The eyes that look are weary,
And heavy the hands that row.
And with one foot on the water,
And one upon the shore,
The Angel of Shadow gives warning
That day shall be no more.
Is it the clang of wild-geese?
Is it the Indian's yell,
That lends to the voice of the north-wind
The tones of a far-off bell?
The voyageur smiles as he listens
To the sound that grows apace;
Well he knows the vesper ringing
Of the bells of St. Boniface.
The bells of the Roman Mission,
That call from their turrets twain,
To the boatman on the river,
To the hunter on the plain!
Even so in our mortal journey
The bitter north-winds blow,
And thus upon life's Red River
Our hearts, as oarsmen, row.
And when the Angel of Shadow
Rests his feet on wave and shore,
And our eyes grow dim with watching
And our hearts faint at the oar,
Happy is he who heareth
The signal of his release
In the bells of the Holy City,
The chimes of eternal peace!
Scheme | ABXB CDXD EFGF HIAI JKEK XXAD XBHB GFHF FIAI CJGJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (90%) Etheree (30%) |
Metre | 100010110 0111111 111111 010111 1011011 1010111 01101010 1011 11011 1011101 0111110 0100111 01111010 010101 01011110 111111 1101111 1101001 111011011 0110111 0111110 1011101 11101010 101111 01101010 1111101 10101010 1010101 1010101010 010111 01011110 101111 0101011 1111101 010111110 01011101 101111 0101101 001101010 0110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,199 |
Words | 236 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 96 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 09, 2023
- 1:11 min read
- 133 Views
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"The Red River Voyageur" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23182/the-red-river-voyageur>.
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