Analysis of Swing high and swing low
Eugene Field 1850 (St. Louis) – 1895 (Chicago)
Swing high and swing low
While the breezes they blow -
It's off for a sailor thy father would go;
And it's here in the harbor, in sight of the sea,
He hath left his wee babe with my song and with me:
"Swing high and swing low
While the breezes they blow!"
Swing high and swing low
While the breezes they blow -
It's oh for the waiting as weary days go!
And it's oh for the heartache that smiteth me when
I sing my song over and over again:
"Swing high and swing low
While the breezes they blow!"
"Swing high and swing low " -
The sea singeth so,
And it waileth anon in its ebb and its flow;
And a sleeper sleeps on to that song of the sea
Nor recketh he ever of mine or of me!
"Swing high and swing low
While the breezes they blow -
'T was off for a sailor thy father would go!"
Scheme | AAabbAA AAaccAA AaabbAAa |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011 101011 11101011011 011001001101 111111111011 11011 101011 11011 101011 11101011011 0111011111 11111001001 11011 101011 11011 0111 0111011011 001011111101 1111011111 11011 101011 111101011011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 765 |
Words | 168 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 8 |
Lines Amount | 22 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 196 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 54 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 50 sec read
- 102 Views
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"Swing high and swing low" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/13046/swing-high-and-swing-low>.
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