Analysis of The Fugitives
I.
The waters are flashing,
The white hail is dashing,
The lightnings are glancing,
The hoar-spray is dancing—
Away!
The whirlwind is rolling,
The thunder is tolling,
The forest is swinging,
The minster bells ringing--
Come away!
The Earth is like Ocean,
Wreck-strewn and in motion:
Bird, beast, man and worm
Have crept out of the storm--
Come away!
II.
'Our boat has one sail
And the helmsman is pale;--
A bold pilot I trow,
Who should follow us now,'--
Shouted he--
And she cried: 'Ply the oar!
Put off gaily from shore!'--
As she spoke, bolts of death
Mixed with hail, specked their path
O’er the sea.
And from isle, tower and rock,
The blue beacon-cloud broke,
And though dumb in the blast,
The red cannon flashed fast
From the lee.
III.
And 'Fear'st thou?' and 'Fear'st thou?'
And Seest thou?' and 'Hear'st thou?'
And 'Drive we not free
O'er the terrible sea,
I and thou?'
One boat-cloak did cover
The loved and the lover--
Their blood beats one measure,
They murmur proud pleasure
Soft and low;--
While around the lashed Ocean,
Like mountains in motion,
Is withdrawn and uplifted,
Sunk, shattered and shifted
To and fro.
IV.
In the court of the fortress
Beside the pale portress,
Like a bloodhound well beaten
The bridegroom stands, eaten
By shame;
On the topmost watch-turret,
As a death-boding spirit
Stands the gray tyrant father,
To his voice the mad weather
Seems tame;
And with curses as wild
As e’er clung to child,
He devotes to the blast,
The best, loveliest and last
Of his name!
Scheme | abbbbc bbbbC ddxxC aeefgh iixxh xxjjh agghhg kkkkf ddxxf xllddm nnkkm oojjm |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1 010110 011110 010110 011110 01 01110 010110 010110 010110 101 011110 110010 11101 111101 101 1 101111 00111 011011 111011 101 011101 111011 111111 111111 101 0111001 011011 011001 011011 101 1 01110111 0110111 01111 1001001 101 111110 010010 111110 110110 101 1010110 110010 1010100 110010 101 1 0011010 01011 1010110 01110 11 101110 101110 1011010 1110110 11 011011 11111 101101 01101 111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,452 |
Words | 275 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 5, 5, 6, 5, 5, 6, 5, 5, 6, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 18 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 95 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 21, 2023
- 1:22 min read
- 176 Views
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"The Fugitives" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29262/the-fugitives>.
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