Analysis of Farewell to the Muse
Sir Walter Scott 1771 (College Wynd, Edinburgh) – 1832 (Abbotsford, Roxburghshire)
Enchantress, farewell, who so oft hast decoy'd me,
At the close of the evening through woodlands to roam,
Where the forester, 'lated, with wonder espied me
Explore the wild scenes he was quitting for home.
Farewell and take with thee thy numbers wild speaking
The language alternate of rapture and woe:
Oh! none but some lover, whose heartstrings are breaking
The pang that I feel at our parting can know.
Each joy thou couldst double, and when there came sorrow,
Or pale disappointment to darken my way,
What voice was like thine, that could sing of tomorrow,
Till forgot in the strain was the grief of today!
But when friends drop around us in life's weary waning,
The grief, Queen of Numbers, thou canst not assuage;
Nor the gradual estrangement of those yet remaining,
The languor of pain, and the chillness of age.
'Twas thou that once taught me, accents bewailing,
To sing how a warrior I lay stretch'd on the plain,
And a maiden hung o'er him with aid unavailing,
And held to his lips the cold goblet in vain ;
As vain thy enchantments, O Queen of wild Numbers
To a bard when the reign of his fancy is o'er,
And the quick pulse of feeling in apathy slumbers—
Farewell, then, Enchantress I'll meet thee no more!
Scheme | ABABCDCD DEDECFCF CGCGHXHX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111111 10110101111 10100111011 01011111011 10111110110 01010011001 11111011110 011111101011 111110011110 1101011011 11111111101 101001101101 1111011011010 01111011101 10100010111010 011100111 111111101 1110100111101 0010110111010 01111011001 1111111110 1011011110110 001111001001 11111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,206 |
Words | 220 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 40 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 319 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 73 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 1:07 min read
- 138 Views
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