Analysis of On the Garden Wall

Vachel Lindsay 1879 (Springfield) – 1931 (Springfield)



Oh, once I walked a garden
In dreams. 'Twas yellow grass.
And many orange-trees grew there
In sand as white as glass.
The curving, wide wall-border
Was marble, like the snow.
I walked that wall a fairy-prince
And, pacing quaint and slow,
Beside me were my pages,
Two giant, friendly birds.
Half swan they were, half peacock.
They spake in courtier-words.
Their inner wings a charriot,
Their outer wings for flight,
They lifted me from dreamland.
We bade those trees good-night.
Swiftly above the stars we rode.
I looked below me soon.
The white-walled garden I had ruled
Was one lone flower--the moon.


Scheme ABCBDEFEGHIHJJJJJKJK
Poetic Form Etheree  (35%)
Metre 1111010 011101 01010111 011111 0101110 110101 11110101 010101 0110110 110101 111011 1101001 110101 110111 110111 111111 10010111 110111 01110111 1111001
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 609
Words 105
Sentences 13
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 20
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 468
Words per stanza (avg) 103
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

31 sec read
138

Vachel Lindsay

Nicholas Vachel Lindsay was an American poet. more…

All Vachel Lindsay poems | Vachel Lindsay Books

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