Analysis of The Falmouth Bell
Katharine Lee Bates 1859 (Falmouth) – 1929 (Wellesley)
Never was there lovelier town
Than our Falmouth by the sea.
Tender curves of sky look down
On her grace of knoll and lea.
Sweet her nestled Mayflower blows
Ere from prouder haunts the spring
Yet has brushed the lingering snows
With a violet-colored wing.
Bright the autumn gleams pervade
Cranberry marsh and bushy wold,
Till the children's mirth has made
Millionaires in leaves of gold;
And upon her pleasant ways,
Set with many a gardened home,
Flash through fret of drooping sprar
Visions far of ocean foam.
Happy bell of Paul Revere,
Sounding o'er such blest demesne
While a hundred times a year
Weaves the round from green to green.
--------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------
Never were there friendlier folk
Than in Falmouth by the sea,
Neighbor-households that invoke
Pride of sailor-pedigree.
Here is princely interchange
Of the gifts of shore and field,
Starred with treasures rare and strange
That the liberal sea-chests yield.
Culture here burns breezy torch
Where gray captains, bronzed of neck
Tread their little length of porch
With a memory of the deck.
Ah, and here the tenderest hearts,
Here where sorrows sorest wring
And the widows shift their parts
Comforted and comforting.
Holy bell of Paul Revere
Calling such to prayer and praise.
While a hundred times the year
Herds her flock of faithful days!
--------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------
Greetings to thee, ancient bell
Of our Falmouth by the sea!
Answered by the ocean swell,
Ring thy centuried Jubilee!
Like the white sails of the Sound,
Hast thou seen the years drift by,
From the dreamful, dim profound
To a goal beyond the eye.
Long thy maker lieth mute,
Hero of a faded strife;
Thou hast tolled from seed to fruit
Generations three of life.
Still thy mellow voice and clear
Floats o'er land and listening deep,
And we deem our fathers hear
From their shadowy hill of sleep.
Ring thy peals for centuries yet,
Living voice of Paul Revere!
Let the future not forget
That the past accounted dear!
Scheme | ABABCDCDEFEFGHIHIAIX JBJBKLKLMNMNODODIGIG PBPBQRQRSTSTIUIUVIVI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101111 11010101 1011111 1011101 1010101 1110101 11101001 10100101 1010101 1010101 1010111 010111 0010101 11100101 1111101 1011101 1011101 1010111 1010101 1011111 1 10011001 1010101 101101 1110100 111001 1011101 1110101 10100111 1011101 1110111 1110111 10100101 101011 111011 0010111 1000100 1011101 1011101 1010101 1011101 1 1011101 11010101 1010101 11110 1011101 1110111 101101 1010101 111011 1010101 1111111 010111 1110101 110101001 01110101 11100111 11111001 1011101 1010101 1010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,061 |
Words | 333 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 20, 21, 21 |
Lines Amount | 62 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 505 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 110 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:40 min read
- 65 Views
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"The Falmouth Bell" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/24901/the-falmouth-bell>.
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