Analysis of The Shepherd Boy
Marjorie Lowry Christie Pickthall 1883 (Gunnersbury, London) – 1922 (Vancouver)
WHEN the red moon hangs over the fold,
And the cypress shadow is rimmed with gold,
O little sheep, I have laid me low,
My face against the old earth's face,
Where one by one the white moths go,
And the brown bee has his sleeping place.
And then I have whispered, Mother, hear,
For the owls are awake and the night is near,
And whether I lay me near or far
No lip shall kiss me,
No eye shall miss me,
Saving the eye of a cold white star.
And the old brown woman answers mild,
Rest you safe on my heart, O child.
Many a shepherd, many a king,
I fold them safe from their sorrowing.
Gwenever's heart is bound with dust,
Tristram dreams of the dappled doe,
But the bugle moulders, the blade is rust;
Stilled are the trumpets of Jericho,
And the tired men sleep by the walls of Troy.
Little and lonely,
Knowing me only,
Shall I not comfort you, shepherd-boy?
When the wind wakes in the apple-tree,
And the shy hare feeds on the wild fern stem,
I say my prayers to the Trinity,–
The prayers that are three and the charms that are seven
To the angels guarding the towers of heaven,–
And I lay my head on her raiment's hem,
Where the young grass darkens the strawberry star,
Where the iris buds and the bellworts are.
All night I hear her breath go by
Under the arch of the empty sky.
All night her heart beats under my head,
And I lie as still as the ancient dead,
Warm as the young lambs there with the sheep.
I and no other
Close to my Mother,
Fold my hands in her hands, and sleep.
Scheme | AABCBCXXDEED FFGGHBHBI EEI EJEKKJDDLLMMNOON |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (25%) Etheree (20%) |
Metre | 101111001 001011111 110111111 11010111 11110111 001111101 011110101 10110100111 010111111 11111 11111 100110111 001110101 11111111 100101001 1111111 111111 1011011 101010111 11010110 00101110111 10010 10110 111101101 101100101 0011110111 111110100 011110011110 101010010110 011111011 101110101 101010011 11110111 100110101 110111011 0111110101 110111101 10110 11110 11100101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,452 |
Words | 295 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 9, 3, 16 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 284 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 73 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:29 min read
- 101 Views
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"The Shepherd Boy" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/26468/the-shepherd-boy>.
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