Analysis of Twilight Thoughts
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
The God of the day has vanished,
The light from the hills has fled,
And the hand of an unseen artist
Is painting the west all red.
All threaded with gold and crimson,
And burnished with amber dye,
And tipped with purple shadows,
The glory flameth high.
Fair, beautiful world of ours!
Fair, beautiful world, but oh,
How darkened by pain and sorrow,
How blackened by sin and woe.
The splendour pales in the heavens
And dies in a golden gleam,
And alone in the hush of twilight,
I sit, in a chequered dream.
I think of the souls that are straying,
In the shadows as black as the night,
Of hands that are groping blindly
In search of a shining light;
Of hearts that are mutely crying,
And praying for just one ray,
To lead them out of the shadows
Into the better way.
And I think of the Father's children
Who are trying to walk alone,
Who have dropped the hand of the Parent,
And wander in ways unknown.
Oh, the paths are rough and thorny,
And I know they cannot stand.
They will faint and fall by the wayside,
Unguarded by God's right hand.
And I think of the souls that are yearning
To folow the good and true;
They are striving to live unsullied,
Yet I know not what to do.
And I wonder when God, the Master,
Shall end this weary strife,
And lead us out of the shadows
Into the deathless life.
Scheme | XAXABCDC XEEEXFGF HGIGHJDJ BKXKILXL HMXMXNDN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (20%) |
Metre | 01101110 0110111 001110110 1100111 11011010 0101101 011101 01011 11001110 1100111 11011010 1101101 0110010 0100101 00100111 110011 111011110 00111101 11111010 0110101 1111110 0101111 1111101 010101 011101010 11101101 111011010 0100101 10111010 0111101 11101101 0101111 0111011110 110101 111011010 1111111 011011010 111101 0111101 01011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,304 |
Words | 250 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 201 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 50 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:15 min read
- 96 Views
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"Twilight Thoughts" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10961/twilight-thoughts>.
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