Analysis of Sweethearts of the Year
Vachel Lindsay 1879 (Springfield) – 1931 (Springfield)
Our Sweetheart, Spring, came softly,
Her gliding hands were fire,
Her lilac breath upon our cheeks
Consumed us with desire.
By her our God began to build,
Began to sow and till.
He laid foundations in our loves
For every good and ill.
We asked Him not for blessing,
We asked Him not for pain —
Still, to the just and unjust
He sent His fire and rain.
We prayed not, yet she came to us,
The silken, shining one,
On Jacob's noble ladder
Descended from the sun.
She reached our town of Every Day,
Our dry and dusty sod —
We prayed not, yet she brought to us
The misty wine of God.
The woods were black and crimson,
The frost-bit flowers were dead,
But Sweetheart Indian Summer came
With love-winds round her head.
While fruits God-given and splendid
Belonged to her domain:
Baskets of corn in perfect ear
And grapes with purple stain,
The treacherous winds persuaded her
Spring Love was in the wood
Altho' the end of love was hers —
Fruition, Motherhood.
We had done naught of service
To win our Maker's praise.
Yet Sweetheart Winter came to us
To gild our waning days.
Down Jacob's winding ladder
She came from Sunshine Town,
Bearing the sparkling mornings
And clouds of silver-brown;
Bearing the seeds of Springtime.
Upon her snowy seas
Bearing the fairy star-flowers
For baby Christmas trees.
Scheme | XAXA XBXBXCXC DEAEXFDF EGXGXCXCAHIH DJDJAKXKXLIL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011110 0101010 01101101 0111010 101010111 011101 110100101 1100101 1111110 111111 1101001 1111001 11111111 010101 1101010 010101 1110111001 1010101 11111111 010111 0101010 0111001 11100101 111101 11110010 011001 10110011 011101 010010100 111001 1011110 01010 1111110 1110101 1110111 1110101 1101010 11111 1001010 011101 100111 010101 10010110 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,374 |
Words | 242 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 8, 8, 12, 12 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 203 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 28, 2023
- 1:13 min read
- 96 Views
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"Sweethearts of the Year" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/37338/sweethearts-of-the-year>.
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