Analysis of A Saint
Padraic Colum 1881 (County Longford) – 1972 (Enfield)
THE stir of children with fresh dresses on,
And men who meet and say unguarded words,
And women from the coops
Of drudgeries released;
And standing at their doors to watch go by
Small pomps with pennons and with first spring-flowers,
And, lifted over them,
Your name that sanctifies.
But you, when you came here, it was to front
Hard-handed men, and trouble them for dues
To stay the fatherless
Portion of what they ploughed.
To claim resource from them whose own resource
Was pittance this you came here to do,
And give for what you gained
Your season of bright youth:
The hunt upon the mountain-side, the dance
Down in the vale; the whisper at the door;
Kiss on unstaying lips
That afterwards would stay;
Music you could have made would make our land
Of noble note and join our different breeds,
And make your name endeared
On roadside and in hall.
All this was changed, as when the warm stream
Setting through ocean toward vine-bearing isles,
Turns its flow toward capes
Where heather only thrives.
That day that was of battles and hard pledges
Has all been changed into this whitened morn-
Music and holiday,
And benediction bells.
Scheme | XAAX XXXA XXXX XXXX XXXB XXXX XXXX XXBX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0111011101 0111010101 010101 1101 0101111111 1111011110 010101 1111 1111111111 1101010111 110100 101111 1110111110 110111111 011111 110111 0101010101 1001010101 1111 110011 10111111101 110101101001 011101 11001 111111011 10110011101 111011 110101 11111100110 111101111 10010 00101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,112 |
Words | 202 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 113 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 95 Views
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