Analysis of The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers
Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806 (Kelloe) – 1861 (Florence)
The breaking waves dashed high
On a stern and rock-bound coast,
And the woods, against a stormy sky,
Their giant branches tost;
And the heavy night hung dark
The hills and water o'er,
When a band of exiles moored their bark
On the wild New England shore.
Not as the conqueror comes,
They, the true-hearted, came;
Not with the roll of the stirring drums,
And the trumpet that sings of fame;
Not as the flying come,
In silence and in fear, -
They shook the depths of the desert's gloom
With their hymns of lofty cheer.
Amidst the storm they sang,
And the stars heard and the sea;
And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang
To the anthem of the free.
The ocean-eagle soared
From his nest by the white wave's foam,
And the rocking pines of the forest roared -
This was their welcome home!
There were men with hoary hair
Amidst that pilgrim band:
Why had they come to wither there,
Away from their childhood's land?
There was woman's fearless eye,
Lit by her deep love's truth;
There was manhood's brow serenely high,
And the fiery heart of youth.
What sought they thus afar?
Bright jewels of the mine?
The wealth of the seas? the spoils of war? -
They sought a faith's pure shrine!
Ay, call it holy ground,
The soil where first they trod!
They have left unstained what there they found -
Freedom to worship God!
Scheme | ABAB CXCD EFEF XGXG HIHI JKJK LMLM ANAN XODO PQPQ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (90%) Etheree (35%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 010111 1010111 001010101 110101 0010111 0101010 10111111 1011101 1101001 101101 110110101 00101111 110101 010001 11011011 1111101 010111 0011001 0010110111 1010101 010101 11110111 0010110101 111101 1011101 011101 11111101 011111 1110101 110111 111101001 00100111 111101 110101 011010111 110111 111101 011111 111011111 101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,283 |
Words | 245 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 102 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 1:15 min read
- 327 Views
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