Analysis of The Union

Alfred Noyes 1880 (Wolverhampton) – 1958 (Isle of Wight)



You that have gathered together the sons of all races,
And welded them into one,
Lifting the torch of your Freedom on hungering faces
That sailed to the setting sun;

You that have made of mankind in your own proud regions
The music of man to be,
How should the old earth sing of you, now, as your legions
Rise to set all men free?

How should the singer that knew the proud vision and loved it,
In the days when not all men knew,
Gaze through his tears, on the light, now the world has approved it;
Or dream, when the dream comes true?

How should he sing when the Spirit of Freedom in thunder
Speaks, and the wine-press is red;
And the sea-winds are loud with the chains that are broken asunder
And nations that rise from the dead?

Flag of the sky, proud flag of that wide communion,
Too mighty for thought to scan;
Flag of the many in one, and that last world-union
That kingdom of God in man;

Ours was a dream, in the night, of that last federation,
But yours is the glory unfurled--
The marshalled nations and stars that shall make one nation
One singing star of the world.


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH BIBI BJBJ
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 11110010011110 0101011 10011110110010 1110101 1111111011110 0101111 1101111111110 111111 11010110110011 00111111 11111011011011 1110111 11111010110010 1001111 0011111011110010 01011101 110111111010 1101111 1101001011110 1101101 10101001111010 11101001 0101001111110 1101101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,060
Words 208
Sentences 5
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 140
Words per stanza (avg) 34
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 22, 2023

1:02 min read
112

Alfred Noyes

Alfred Noyes was an English poet best known for his ballads The Highwayman 1906 and The Barrel Organ more…

All Alfred Noyes poems | Alfred Noyes Books

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