Analysis of Bring, In This Timeless Grave to Throw



Bring, in this timeless grave to throw,
No cypress, sombre on the snow;
Snap not from the bitter yew
His leaves that live December through;
Break no rosemary, bright with rime
And sparkling to the cruel clime;
Nor plod the winter land to look
For willows in the icy brook
To cast them leafless round him: bring
No spray that ever buds in spring.

But if the Christmas field has kept
Awns the last gleaner overstept,
Or shrivelled flax, whose flower is blue
A single season, never two;
Or if one haulm whose year is o'er
Shivers on the upland frore,
--Oh, bring from hill and stream and plain
Whatever will not flower again,
To give him comfort: he and those
Shall bide eternal bedfellows
Where low upon the couch he lies
Whence he never shall arise.


Scheme AABBCCDDEE FFBBXAXXGGHH
Poetic Form
Metre 10110111 1101101 1110101 11110101 1110111 01010101 11010111 1100101 11110111 11110101 11010111 10111 11111011 01010101 111111110 1010101 11110101 10111001 11110101 1101010 11010111 1110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 756
Words 139
Sentences 3
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 10, 12
Lines Amount 22
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 296
Words per stanza (avg) 69
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

42 sec read
97

Alfred Edward Housman

Alfred Edward Housman, usually known as A. E. Housman, was an English classical scholar and poet, best known to the general public for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad.  more…

All Alfred Edward Housman poems | Alfred Edward Housman Books

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