Analysis of The Golden Wedding Of Sterling And Sarah Lanier, September 27, 1868.
Sidney Lanier 1842 (Macon) – 1881 (Lynn)
By the Eldest Grandson.
A rainbow span of fifty years,
Painted upon a cloud of tears,
In blue for hopes and red for fears,
Finds end in a golden hour to-day.
Ah, YOU to our childhood the legend told,
'At the end of the rainbow lies the gold,'
And now in our thrilling hearts we hold
The gold that never will pass away.
Gold crushed from the quartz of a crystal life,
Gold hammered with blows of human strife,
Gold burnt in the love of man and wife,
Till it is pure as the very flame:
Gold that the miser will not have,
Gold that is good beyond the grave,
Gold that the patient and the brave
Amass, neglecting praise and blame.
O golden hour that caps the time
Since, heart to heart like rhyme to rhyme,
You stood and listened to the chime
Of inner bells by spirits rung,
That tinkled many a secret sweet
Concerning how two souls should meet,
And whispered of Time's flying feet
With a most piquant silver tongue.
O golden day, -- a golden crown
For the kingly heads that bowed not down
To win a smile or 'scape a frown,
Except the smile and frown of Heaven!
Dear heads, still dark with raven hair;
Dear hearts, still white in spite of care;
Dear eyes, still black and bright and fair
As any eyes to mortals given!
Old parents of a restless race,
You miss full many a bonny face
That would have smiled a filial grace
Around your Golden Wedding wine.
But God is good and God is great.
His will be done, if soon or late.
Your dead stand happy in yon Gate
And call you blessed while they shine.
So, drop the tear and dry the eyes.
Your rainbow glitters in the skies.
Here's golden wine: young, old, arise:
With cups as full as our souls, we say:
'Two Hearts, that wrought with smiles through tears
This rainbow span of fifty years,
Behold how true, true love appears
True gold for your Golden Wedding day!'
Scheme | A BCBDEEED FFFGXHHG IIIJKKKJ LLLAMMMA NNNOPPPO QQQDCBBD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10101 0111101 10010111 01110111 1100101011 1111010101 101101101 0101010111 011101101 1110110101 110111101 110011101 111110101 11010111 11110101 11010001 01010101 110101101 11111111 11010101 11011101 110100101 01011111 01011101 10110101 11010101 101011111 11011101 010101110 11111101 11110111 11110101 110111010 11010101 111100101 111101001 01110101 11110111 11111111 11110011 0111111 11010101 1110001 11011101 1111110111 11111111 1111101 01111101 111110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,762 |
Words | 348 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 49 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 200 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 49 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:44 min read
- 77 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Golden Wedding Of Sterling And Sarah Lanier, September 27, 1868." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34792/the-golden-wedding-of-sterling-and-sarah-lanier%2C-september-27%2C-1868.>.
Discuss this Sidney Lanier poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In