Analysis of Hamatreya
Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803 (Boston) – 1882 (Concord)
Bulkeley, Hunt, Willard, Hosmer, Meriam, Flint,
Possessed the land which rendered to their toil
Hay, corn, roots, hemp, flax, apples, wool and wood.
Each of these landlords walked amidst his farm,
Saying, "'Tis mine, my children's and my name's.
How sweet the west wind sounds in my own trees!
How graceful climb those shadows on my hill!
I fancy these pure waters and the flags
Know me, as does my dog: we sympathize;
And, I affirm, my actions smack of the soil.'
Where are these men? Asleep beneath their grounds:
And strangers, fond as they, their furrows plough.
Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys
Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs;
Who steer the plough, but cannot steer their feet
Clear of the grave.
They added ridge to valley, brook to pond,
And sighed for all that bounded their domain;
'This suits me for a pasture; that's my park;
We must have clay, lime, gravel, granite-ledge,
And misty lowland, where to go for peat.
The land is well,--lies fairly to the south.
'Tis good, when you have crossed the sea and back,
To find the sitfast acres where you left them.'
Ah! the hot owner sees not Death, who adds
Him to his land, a lump of mould the more.
Hear what the Earth says:--
'Mine and yours;
Mine, not yours, Earth endures;
Stars abide--
Shine down in the old sea;
Old are the shores;
But where are old men?
I who have seen much,
Such have I never seen.
'The lawyer's deed
Ran sure,
In tail,
To them, and to their heirs
Who shall succeed,
Without fail,
Forevermore.
'Here is the land,
Shaggy with wood,
With its old valley,
Mound and flood.
"But the heritors?--
Fled like the flood's foam.
The lawyer, and the laws,
And the kingdom,
Clean swept herefrom.
'They called me theirs,
Who so controlled me;
Yet every one
Wished to stay, and is gone,
How am I theirs,
If they cannot hold me,
But I hold them?'
When I heard the Earth-song,
I was no longer brave;
My avarice cooled
Like lust in the chill of the grave.
Scheme | XABCDXXXXA XXXEFGXXXXFXXHXIX JJXKXXXX LXMELMI XBKXDXXXC EKXXEKH XGXG |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10011011001 0101110111 1111110101 111110111 1011110011 1101110111 110111111 1101110001 111111110 01011101101 1111010111 010111111 11010110101 1111011111 1101110111 1101 1101110111 0111110101 1111010111 1111110101 010111111 0111110101 1111110101 1101101111 1011011111 1111011101 11011 101 111101 101 110011 1101 11111 11111 111101 0101 11 01 110111 1101 011 1 1101 1011 11110 101 101 11011 010001 0010 111 1111 11011 11001 111011 1111 111011 1111 111011 111101 11001 11001101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,973 |
Words | 367 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 17, 8, 7, 9, 7, 4 |
Lines Amount | 62 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 211 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 51 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 11, 2023
- 1:50 min read
- 225 Views
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"Hamatreya" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29820/hamatreya>.
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