Analysis of The Valley Of Baca
Emma Lazarus 1849 (New York City) – 1887 (New York City)
A brackish lake is there with bitter pools
Anigh its margin, brushed by heavy trees.
A piping wind the narrow valley cools,
Fretting the willows and the cypresses.
Gray skies above, and in the gloomy space
An awful presence hath its dwelling-place.
I saw a youth pass down that vale of tears;
His head was circled with a crown of thorn,
His form was bowed as by the weight of years,
His wayworn feet by stones were cut and torn.
His eyes were such as have beheld the sword
Of terror of the angel of the Lord.
He passed, and clouds and shadows and thick haze
Fell and encompassed him. I might not see
What hand upheld him in those dismal ways,
Wherethrough he staggered with his misery.
The creeping mists that trooped and spread around,
The smitten head and writhing form enwound.
Then slow and gradual but sure they rose,
Those clinging vapors blotting out the sky.
The youth had fallen not, his viewless foes
Discomfited, had left the victory
Unto the heart that fainted not nor failed,
But from the hill-tops its salvation hailed.
I looked at him in dread lest I should see,
The anguish of the struggle in his eyes;
And lo, great peace was there! Triumphantly
The sunshine crowned him from the sacred skies.
'From strength to strength he goes,' he leaves beneath
The valley of the shadow and of death.
'Thrice blest who passing through that vale of Tears,
Makes it a well,'-and draws life-nourishment
From those death-bitter drops. No grief, no fears
Assail him further, he may scorn the event.
For naught hath power to swerve the steadfast soul
Within that valley broken and made whole.
Scheme | AXAABB CDEDFF GHGHXF IXIHJJ HKHKXX CXEXLL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101111101 111011101 0101010101 1001001 1101000101 1101011101 1101111111 1111010111 1111110111 111110101 110111101 1101010101 110101011 1001011111 1101101101 111011100 0101110101 010101011 1101001111 1101010101 011101111 1110100 1001110111 1101110101 1111011111 0101010011 0111110100 011110101 1111111101 010101011 1111011111 1101011100 1111011111 01110111001 1111011011 0111010011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,576 |
Words | 289 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 210 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 47 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 13, 2023
- 1:26 min read
- 70 Views
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"The Valley Of Baca" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/12739/the-valley-of-baca>.
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