Analysis of Primroses

William Gay 1865 (Scotland) – 1897



They shine upon my table there,
A constellation mimic sweet,
No stars in Heaven could shine more fair,
Nor Earth has beauty more complete;
And on my table there they shine,
And speak to me of things Divine.

In Heaven at first they grew, and when
God could no fairer make them, He
Did plant them by the ways of men
For all the pure in heart to see,
That each might shine upon its stem
And be a light from Him to them.

They speak of things above my verse,
Of thoughts no earthly language knows,
That loftiest Bard could ne'er rehearse,
Nor holiest prophet e'er disclose,
Which God Himself no other way
Than by a Primrose could convey.


Scheme ABABCC DEDEFF GHGHII
Poetic Form
Metre 11011101 0010101 110101111 11110101 01110111 01111101 010111101 11110111 11110111 11010111 11110111 01011111 11110111 11110101 1111101 1100101001 11011101 1101101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 623
Words 122
Sentences 4
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 165
Words per stanza (avg) 40
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
55

William Gay

William Gay (2 May 1865 – 22 December 1897) was a Scottish-born Australian poet. more…

All William Gay poems | William Gay Books

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