Analysis of For Wilma (Aged Five Years)
R C Lehmann 1856 ( Ecclesall, Sheffield, ) – 1929 ( High Wycombe, )
Like winds that with the setting of the sun
Draw to a quiet murmuring and cease,
So is her little struggle fought and done;
And the brief fever and the pain
In a last sigh fade out and so release
The lately-breathing dust they may not hurt again.
Now all that Wilma was is made as naught:
Stilled is the laughter that was erst our pleasure;
The pretty air, the childish grace untaught,
The innocent wiles,
And all the sunny smiles,
The cheek that flushed to greet some tiny treasure;
The mouth demure, the tilted chin held high,
The gleeful flashes of her glancing eye;
Her shy bold look of wildness unconfined,
And the gay impulse of her baby mind
That none could tame,
That sent her spinning round,
A spirit of living flame
Dancing in airy rapture o'er the ground -
All these with that faint sigh are made to be
Man's breath upon a glass, a mortal memory.
Then from the silent room where late she played,
Setting a steady course toward the light,
Swifter than thistledown the little shade,
Reft from the nooks that she had made her own
And from the love that sheltered, fared alone
Forth through the gloomy spaces of the night,
Until at last she lit before the gate
Where all the suppliant shades must stand and wait.
Grim Cerberus, the foiler of the dead,
Keeping his everlasting vigil there
In deep-mouthed wrath
Athwart the rocky path,
Did at her coming raise his triple head
And lift his bristling hair;
But when he saw our tender little maid
Forlorn, but unafraid,
He blinked his flaming eyes and ceased to frown,
And, fawning on her, smoothed his shaggy crest,
Composed his savage limbs and settled down
With ears laid back and all his care at rest;
And so with kindly aspect beckoned in
The little playmate of his earthly kin.
For often she had tugged old Rollo's mane,
And often Lufra felt the loving check
Of childish arms about her glossy neck -
Lufra and Rollo, who with anxious faces
Now cast about the haunts and hiding-places
To find their friend, but ever cast in vain.
So now, set free from all that can oppress,
And in her own white innocence arrayed,
Made one for ever with all happiness,
Alert she wanders through the starry glade;
Or, where the blissful Shades intone their praise,
She from the lily-covered bowers
Heaping her arms with flowers
Soars and is borne along
The amaranthine the delightful ways,
Gushes the pretty notes and careless trills
Of her unstudied song,
And with her music all the joyous valley fills.
Yet, oh ye Powers whose rule is set above
These fair abodes that ring the firmament,
Spirits of Peace and Happiness and Love,
And thou, too, mild-eyed Spirit of Content,
Ye will not chide if sometimes in her play
The child should start and droop her shining head,
Turning in meek surmise
Her wistful eyes
Back tow'rd the dimness of our mortal day
And the loved home from which her soul was sped.
Soon shall our little Wilma learn to be
Amid the immortal blest
An unrepining guest,
Who now, dear heart, is young for your eternity.
Scheme | ABACBX DEDFFEGGHHIJIJKK LMLNNMOO PQRRPQLLSTSTUU CVVWWC XLXLXYYZXBZX 1 D1 X2 P3 3 2 PKTTK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111010101 1101010001 1101010101 00110001 0011110101 010101111101 1111011111 110101111010 010101011 01001 010101 01111111010 0101010111 0101010101 011111001 0011010101 1111 110101 0101101 10010101001 1111111111 110101010100 1101011111 1001010101 10110101 1101111101 0101110101 1101010101 0111110101 110111101 1101101 101010101 0111 010101 1101011101 0111001 11111010101 01101 1111010111 0101011101 0111010101 1111011111 011101100 010111101 110111111 010110101 1101010101 1010111010 11010101010 1111110101 1111111101 0001110001 1111011100 0111010101 1101010111 110101010 1001110 101101 0100101 1001010101 1011 010101010101 11110111101 1111101 1011010001 0111110110 1111101001 0111010101 100101 0101 1101110101 0011110111 11101010111 0100101 111 111111110100 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,916 |
Words | 543 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 16, 8, 14, 6, 12, 14 |
Lines Amount | 76 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 338 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 77 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:44 min read
- 1 View
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"For Wilma (Aged Five Years)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/56417/for-wilma-%28aged-five-years%29>.
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