Analysis of Eternal Rest

Enid Derham 1882 (Hawthorn) – 1941



When the impatient spirit leaves behind
The clogging hours and makes no dear delay
To drop this Nessus-shirt of night and day,
To cast the flesh that bound and could not bind
The heart untamable, the tireless mind,
In equal dissolution shall the clay
That once was seer or singer flee away--
It shall be fire and blown upon the wind.
Not us befits such change in radiance dressed,
Not us, O Earth, for whom thou biddest cease
Our grey endurance of the dark and cold.
These eyes have watched with grief, and now would rest;
Rest we desire, and on thy bosom's peace
The long slow change to unremembering mould.


Scheme ABBAABBACDECDE
Poetic Form
Metre 1001010101 01010011101 111111101 1101110111 01101001 010010101 1111110101 11110010101 11011101001 111111111 10110010101 1111110111 1101001111 0111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 616
Words 113
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 482
Words per stanza (avg) 111
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 25, 2023

34 sec read
162

Enid Derham

Enid Derham was an Australian poet and academic. more…

All Enid Derham poems | Enid Derham Books

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