Analysis of The Vaudois Teacher
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)
'O Lady fair, these silks of mine
are beautiful and rare,-
The richest web of the Indian loom, which beauty's
queen might wear;
And my pearls are pure as thy own fair neck, with whose
radiant light they vie;
I have brought them with me a weary way,-will my
gentle lady buy?'
The lady smiled on the worn old man through the
dark and clustering curls
Which veiled her brow, as she bent to view his
silks and glittering pearls;
And she placed their price in the old man's hand
and lightly turned away,
But she paused at the wanderer's earnest call,-
'My gentle lady, stay!
'O lady fair, I have yet a gem which a purer
lustre flings,
Than the diamond flash of the jewelled crown on
the lofty brow of kings;
A wonderful pearl of exceeding price, whose virtue
shall not decay,
Whose light shall be as a spell to thee and a
blessing on thy way!'
The lady glanced at the mirroring steel where her
form of grace was seen,
Where her eye shone clear, and her dark locks
waved their clasping pearls between;
'Bring forth thy pearl of exceeding worth, thou
traveller gray and old,
And name the price of thy precious gem, and my
page shall count thy gold.'
The cloud went off from the pilgrim's brow, as a
small and meagre book,
Unchased with gold or gem of cost, from his
folding robe he took!
'Here, lady fair, is the pearl of price, may it prove
as such to thee
Nay, keep thy gold-I ask it not, for the word of
God is free!'
The hoary traveller went his way, but the gift he
left behind
Hath had its pure and perfect work on that high-
born maiden's mind,
And she hath turned from the pride of sin to the
lowliness of truth,
And given her human heart to God in its beautiful
hour of youth
And she hath left the gray old halls, where an evil
faith had power,
The courtly knights of her father's train, and the
maidens of her bower;
And she hath gone to the Vaudois vales by lordly
feet untrod,
Where the poor and needy of earth are rich in the
perfect love of God!
Scheme | XABABCCC DBBBEFGF HBXBXFDF HIBIXJCJ DKBKXLXL LMCMDNON OHDHGEDX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011111 110001 010110100111 111 011111111111 100111 111111010111 10101 01011011110 101001 1101111111 101001 0111100111 010101 111101101 110101 1101111011010 101 1010110111 010111 0100110101110 1101 11111011100 10111 010110100110 11111 101110011 111101 1111101011 100101 01011110101 11111 01111010110 1011 111111111 10111 110110111111 1111 111111111011 111 0101001111011 101 11110011111 111 01111011110 111 01001011101100 1011 011101111110 1110 01011010100 101010 0111101111 11 101010111100 01111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,905 |
Words | 385 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 216 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 54 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 03, 2023
- 1:56 min read
- 163 Views
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"The Vaudois Teacher" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23215/the-vaudois-teacher>.
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