Analysis of Old Rhythm And Rhyme
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
They tell me new methods now govern the Muses,
The modes of expression have changed with the times;
That low is the rank of the poet who uses
The old-fashioned verse with intentional rhymes.
And quite out of date, too, is rhythmical metre;
The critics declare it an insult to art.
But oh! the sweet swing of it, oh! the clear ring of it,
Oh! the great pulse of it, right from the heart,
Art or no art.
I sat by the side of that old poet, Ocean,
And counted the billows that broke on the rocks;
The tide lilted in with a rhythmical motion;
The sea-gulls dipped downward in time-keeping flocks.
I watched while a giant wave gathered its forces,
And then on the gray granite precipice burst;
And I knew as I counted, while other waves mounted,
I knew the tenth billow would rhyme with the first.
Below in the village a church bell was chiming,
And back in the woodland a little bird sang;
And, doubt it who will, yet those two sounds were rhyming,
As out o'er the hill-tops they echoed and rang.
The Wind and the Trees fell to talking together;
And nothing they said was didactic or terse;
But everything spoken was told in unbroken
And a beautiful rhyming and rhythmical verse.
So rhythm I hail it, though critics assail it,
And hold melting rhymes as an insult to art,
For oh! the sweet swing of it, oh! the dear ring of it,
Oh! the strong pulse of it, right from the heart,
Art or no art.
Scheme | ababcdedD fgfgxhxh iiii cjfj ededD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 111110110010 01101011101 111011010110 01101101001 0111111110 01001110111 1101111101111 1011111101 1111 111011111010 01001011101 011010110 01111001101 111010110110 01101101001 0111110110110 11011011101 01001001111 0100101011 011111111010 111001111001 010011110010 01011101011 11010110010 0010010011 110111110011 01101110111 1101111101111 1011111101 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,367 |
Words | 265 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 8, 4, 4, 5 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 215 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 53 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 26, 2023
- 1:19 min read
- 80 Views
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"Old Rhythm And Rhyme" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10730/old-rhythm-and-rhyme>.
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