Analysis of The Little White Hearse
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
Somebody’s baby was buried to-day –
The empty white hearse from the grave rumbled back,
And the morning somehow seemed less smiling and gay
As I paused on the sidewalk while it crossed on its way,
And a shadow seemed drawn o’er the sun’s golden track.
Somebody’s baby was laid out to rest,
White as a snowdrop, and fair to behold,
And the soft little hands were crossed over the breast,
And those hands and the lips and the eyelids were pressed
With kisses as hot as the eyelids were cold.
Somebody saw it go out of her sight,
Under the coffin lid – out through the door;
Somebody finds only darkness and blight
All through the glory of summer-sun light;
Somebody’s baby will waken no more.
Somebody’s sorrow is making me weep:
I know not her name, but I echo her cry,
For the dearly bought baby she longed so to keep,
The baby that rode to its long-lasting sleep
In the little white hearse that went rumbling by.
I know not her name, but her sorrow I know;
While I paused on the crossing I lived it once more,
And back to my heart surged that river of woe
That but in the breast of a mother can flow;
For the little white hearse has been, too, at my door.
Scheme | ABAAB CDCCD EFEEF GHGGH IFIIF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011011 01011101101 00101111001 111101111111 00111101101 11011111 110101101 001101011001 01100100101 1101110101 101111101 1001011101 101101001 1101011011 11011011 11011011 11101111001 101011011111 01011111101 001011111001 11101101011 111101011111 01111111011 11001101011 101011111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,181 |
Words | 224 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 25 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 180 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 45 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:07 min read
- 69 Views
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"The Little White Hearse" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10866/the-little-white-hearse>.
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