Analysis of A Question Answered
Alfred Austin 1835 (Leeds) – 1913 (Ashford)
I saw the lark at break of day
Rise from its dewy bed,
And, winged with melody, away
Circle to Heaven o'erhead.
I watched it higher and higher soar,
Still ceasing not to trill,
When, though I could descry no more
Its flight, I heard it still.
But shortly quavered back its note,
And, hovering into sight,
I saw it, homeward sinking, float
Over its nest of night.
``Tell me,'' I cried, ``glad songster, why
You, privileged to wend
Up to the blue and boundless sky,
Where only wings ascend,
``Full into Heaven, to look and gaze
Whither our thoughts aspire,
And, unrebuked, terrestrial lays
Blend with celestial choir,
``Why you, thus welcomed to the height
Of minstrelsy and mirth,
Pavilioned high from mortal sight,
Come back again to Earth.''
Then shook the lark again its wings,
And, fluttering o'er its bed
Deep-bosomed in the grassy floor,
In rippling answer said:-
``'Tis joy to mount, alone, aloft,
Into the ether clear,
And thence look down on garth and croft
Of red-roofed hamlets here.
``To sing my song through endless space,
Towering above, above,
While mortals watch with upturned face
Of longing and of love;
``Then, for a while, unseen to pass
Through unsubstantial dome,
But treble back to tangled grass-
Not Heaven, withal my home.
``And tell me, when I skyward sing,
Am I unlike to you,
That on Imagination's wing
Strain sometimes out of view
``Into the radiant Realms untrod
Song can alone descry,
And whilom join, by grace of God,
Angelic company
``Yet sink down from the firmament
Back to life's dearth and dole,
Knowing full well that song was sent
To comfort and console.''
Scheme | ABAA CDCD EFEF GHGH IXIX FJFJ XBCB KXKX LMLM NONO PQPQ ACXX ARXR |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (77%) |
Metre | 11011111 111101 01110001 101101 111100101 110111 1111111 111111 11010111 0100011 11110101 101111 1111111 11011 11010101 110101 101101101 1010101 0101001 1101010 11110101 1101 111101 110111 11010111 01001011 1100101 0100101 11110101 010101 01111101 111101 11111101 1000101 1101111 110011 11010111 111 11011101 110111 01111101 110111 1111 101111 01010011 11011 0111111 10100 111101 111101 10111111 110010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,551 |
Words | 283 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 52 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 96 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 21 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:25 min read
- 101 Views
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"A Question Answered" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/647/a-question-answered>.
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