Analysis of Free Will And Fate
Alfred Austin 1835 (Leeds) – 1913 (Ashford)
`You ask me why I envy not
The Monarch on his throne.
It is that I myself have got
A Kingdom of my own:
Kingdom by Free Will divine
Made inalienably mine,
Where over motions blind and brute
I live and reign supreme, a Sovereign absolute.
`Ebbing and flowing as the seas,
And surging but to drown,
Think you that I will pass to these
My Sceptre and my Crown?
Unto rebel passions give
Empire and prerogative?
They are attendants in my train,
To come when I command, and crouch as I ordain.
`If Will by long succession be
Not arbiter of Fate,
Assail its majesty, and see
If it doth abdicate.
Chains that do the body bind
Cannot manacle the mind.
What fetters may the heart control,
Nor doth the Tyrant live that can enslave the soul.
`In Spring, when linnets lift their voice
To praise the Lord and bless,
They are thus punctual of free choice,
Detesting waywardness.
Throughout earth, and sky, and sea,
Law is loving liberty,
That could, but will not, go astray,
And, free though to rebel, delighteth to obey.
`And Spirit, though encased in clay,
To sense's grovelling mood
Accepteth not, befall what may,
Ignoble servitude.
In the faggot thrust the torch,
Till the flame-tongues search and scorch.
Calmly the martyr mounts the pyre,
And smiles amid the smoke, and prays above the fire.
`Nor is it Fate directs the waves,
Or dominates the wind:
They are God's servants, not His slaves,
And they surmise His mind.
If the planets walk aright
Though the dim and trackless night,
Nor their true pathway ever miss,
Know ye it is because their Will is one with His!'
`What is it rules thy singing season?
`What is it rules thy singing season?
Instinct, that diviner Reason,
To which the wish to know seemeth a sort of treason.'
`Why dost thou ever cease to sing?
Singing is such sweet comfort, who,
If he could sing the whole year through,
Would barter it for anything?'
Scheme | ababccdd efefgghh ijijkkll mxmeiinn nonoppqq rkrkaxxx SSss tuut |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111101 01111 1111111 010111 1011101 111 11010101 11010101010 10010101 010111 11111111 110011 1010101 10000100 11010011 111101011101 11110101 110011 01110001 11110 1110101 10101 11010101 110101110101 0111111 110101 111100111 11 0110101 1110100 11111101 0111101101 01010101 1111 110111 01010 0010101 1011101 100101010 0101010101010 11110101 11001 11110111 010111 101011 101011 1111101 111101111111 111111010 111111010 101110 110111101110 11110111 10111101 11110111 1101110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,815 |
Words | 341 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 183 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:42 min read
- 132 Views
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"Free Will And Fate" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/720/free-will-and-fate>.
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