Analysis of A Sea-Side Walk
Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806 (Kelloe) – 1861 (Florence)
We walked beside the sea,
After a day which perished silently
Of its own glory---like the Princess weird
Who, combating the Genius, scorched and seared,
Uttered with burning breath, 'Ho! victory!'
And sank adown, an heap of ashes pale;
So runs the Arab tale.
The sky above us showed
An universal and unmoving cloud,
On which, the cliffs permitted us to see
Only the outline of their majesty,
As master-minds, when gazed at by the crowd!
And, shining with a gloom, the water grey
Swang in its moon-taught way.
Nor moon nor stars were out.
They did not dare to tread so soon about,
Though trembling, in the footsteps of the sun.
The light was neither night's nor day's, but one
Which, life-like, had a beauty in its doubt;
And Silence's impassioned breathings round
Seemed wandering into sound.
O solemn-beating heart
Of nature! I have knowledge that thou art
Bound unto man's by cords he cannot sever---
And, what time they are slackened by him ever,
So to attest his own supernal part,
Still runneth thy vibration fast and strong,
The slackened cord along.
For though we never spoke
Of the grey water anal the shaded rock,---
Dark wave and stone, unconsciously, were fused
Into the plaintive speaking that we used,
Of absent friends and memories unforsook;
And, had we seen each other's face, we had
Seen haply, each was sad.
Scheme | AABBACC XDAADEE FFGGFHH IIJJIKK XXLLKMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 110101 1001110100 1111010101 1010010101 1011011100 011111101 110101 010111 1010011 1101010111 100111100 1101111101 0101010101 101111 111101 1111111101 1100001101 0111011111 1111010011 0101011 1100011 110101 1101110111 11011111010 01111101110 11011111 111010101 010101 111101 10110100101 110110001 0101010111 110101001 0111110111 11111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,344 |
Words | 235 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 7, 7, 7 |
Lines Amount | 35 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 207 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 1:11 min read
- 154 Views
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"A Sea-Side Walk" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 16 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10212/a-sea-side-walk>.
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