Analysis of A Loom of Years
Alfred Noyes 1880 (Wolverhampton) – 1958 (Isle of Wight)
In the light of the silent stars that shine on the struggling sea,
In the weary cry of the wind and the whisper of flower and tree,
Under the breath of laughter, deep in the tide of tears,
I hear the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years.
The leaves of the winter wither and sink in the forest mould
To colour the flowers of April with purple and white and gold:
Light and scent and music die and are born again
In the heart of a grey-haired woman who wakes in a world of pain.
The hound, the fawn, and the hawk, and the doves that croon and coo,
We are all one woof of the weaving and the one warp threads us through,
One flying cloud on the shuttle that carries our hopes and fears
As it goes thro’ the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years.
The green uncrumpling fern and the rustling dewdrenched rose
Pass with our hearts to the Silence where the wings of music close,
Pass and pass to the Timeless that never a moment mars,
Pass and pass to the Darkness that made the suns and stars.
Has the soul gone out in the Darkness? Is the dust sealed from sight?
Ah, hush, for the woof of the ages returns thro’ the warp of the night!
Never that shuttle loses one thread of our hopes and fears,
As it comes thro’ the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years.
O, woven in one wide Loom thro’ the throbbing weft of the whole,
One in spirit and flesh, one in body and soul,
Tho’ the leaf were alone in its falling, the bird in its hour to die,
The heart in its muffled anguish, the sea in its mournful cry,
One with the flower of a day, one with the withered moon
One with the granite mountains that melt into the noon
One with the dream that triumphs beyond the light of the spheres,
We come from the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years.
Scheme | AAXB CCXX DDBB XXEE FFBB GGHH IIBB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (57%) |
Metre | 0011010111101001 00101101001011001 1001110100111 11011010110111 011010100100101 110101101100101 101010101101 0011011101100111 01010010011101 1111110100011111 1101101011010101 1111011010110111 0111001011 1110110101011101 10110101100101 1011010110101 101110010101111 11101101001101101 101101011110101 1111011010110111 110011110101101 101001101001 101001011001011011 010110100101101 11010101110101 1101010110101 11011100101101 111011010110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,794 |
Words | 355 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 49 |
Words per line (avg) | 13 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 197 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 50 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 02, 2023
- 1:46 min read
- 40 Views
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