Analysis of Pocahontas
William Makepeace Thackeray 1811 – 1863
Wearied arm and broken sword
Wage in vain the desperate fight:
Round him press a countless horde,
He is but a single knight.
Hark! a cry of triumph shrill
Through the wilderness resounds,
As, with twenty bleeding wounds,
Sinks the warrior, fighting still.
Now they heap the fatal pyre,
And the torch of death they light:
Ah! 'tis hard to die of fire!
Who will shield the captive knight?
Round the stake with fiendish cry
Wheel and dance the savage crowd,
Cold the victim's mien, and proud.
And his breast is bared to die.
Who will shield the fearless heart?
Who avert the murderous blade?
From the throng, with sudden start,
See there springs an Indian maid.
Quick she stands before the knight,
'Loose the chain, unbind the ring,
I am daughter of the king,
And I claim the Indian right!'
Dauntlessly aside she flings
Lifted axe and thirsty knife;
Fondly to his heart she clings,
And her bosom guards his life!
In the woods of Powhattan,
Still 'tis told by Indian fires,
How a daughter of their sires
Saved the captive Englishman.
Scheme | ABABCDDC EBEBFGGF HIHIBJJB DKDKLDDL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010101 1010101 1110101 1110101 1011101 101001 1110101 10100101 11101010 0011111 11111110 1110101 1011101 1010101 1010101 0111111 1110101 10101001 1011101 11111001 1110101 101101 1110101 01101001 10111 1010101 1011111 0010111 00111 111110010 1010111 1010100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,006 |
Words | 186 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 202 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 55 sec read
- 224 Views
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"Pocahontas" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41027/pocahontas>.
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