Analysis of Epilogue
Alfred Noyes 1880 (Wolverhampton) – 1958 (Isle of Wight)
Carol, every violet has
Heaven for a looking-glass!
Every little valley lies
Under many-clouded skies;
Every little cottage stands
Girt about with boundless lands.
Every little glimmering pond
Claims the mighty shores beyond—
Shores no seamen ever hailed,
Seas no ship has ever sailed.
All the shores when day is done
Fade into the setting sun,
So the story tries to teach
More than can be told in speech.
Beauty is a fading flower,
Truth is but a wizard's tower,
Where a solemn death-bell tolls,
And a forest round it rolls.
We have come by curious ways
To the light that holds the days;
We have sought in haunts of fear
For that all-enfolding sphere:
And lo! it was not far, but near.
We have found, O foolish-fond,
The shore that has no shore beyond.
Deep in every heart it lies
With its untranscended skies;
For what heaven should bend above
Hearts that own the heaven of love?
Carol, Carol, we have come
Back to heaven, back to home.
Scheme | XX AABBCCDD EEFF GGHH IIJJJCC AAKK XX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101001001 1010101 10010101 1010101 10010101 1011101 100101001 1010101 1110101 1111101 1011111 1010101 1010111 1111101 10101010 1110110 1010111 0010111 11111001 1011101 1110111 11111 01111111 1111101 01111101 10100111 1111 11101101 11101011 1010111 1110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 918 |
Words | 171 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 8, 4, 4, 7, 4, 2 |
Lines Amount | 31 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 105 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 131 Views
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"Epilogue" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1145/epilogue>.
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