Analysis of A Twilight Song

Alfred Austin 1835 (Leeds) – 1913 (Ashford)



Why, rapturous bird, though shades of night
Muffle the leaves and swathe the lawn,
Singest thou still with all thy might,
As though 'twere noon, as though 'twere dawn?
Silence darkens on vale and hill,
But thou, unseen, art singing still.

'Tis because, though in dusky bower,
With love delighted still thou art;
Nor hath the deepening twilight power
To lay a curfew on thy heart.
Thou lovest; and, loving, dost prolong
The sense of sunlight with thy song.

Thus may love's rapture haunt me still
When life's full radiance fadeth slow
Along the faltering west, and fill
With melody my afterglow,
And something of Song's morning might
Linger, to make you doubt 'tis night.


Scheme ABABCC DEDEFF CGCGAA
Poetic Form
Metre 110011111 10010101 1111111 11111111 1011101 11011101 10110110 11010111 110100110 11010111 11010101 0111111 11110111 11110011 010100101 1100110 01011101 10111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 660
Words 117
Sentences 6
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 175
Words per stanza (avg) 38
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
88

Alfred Austin

Alfred Austin DL was an English poet who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1896 upon the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. more…

All Alfred Austin poems | Alfred Austin Books

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