Analysis of The Sleeping Child
Eugene Field 1850 (St. Louis) – 1895 (Chicago)
My baby slept--how calm his rest,
As o'er his handsome face a smile
Like that of angel flitted, while
He lay so still upon my breast!
My baby slept--his baby head
Lay all unkiss'd 'neath pall and shroud:
I did not weep or cry aloud--
I only wished I, too, were dead!
My baby sleeps--a tiny mound,
All covered by the little flowers,
Woos me in all my waking hours,
Down in the quiet burying-ground.
And when I sleep I seem to be
With baby in another land--
I take his little baby hand--
He smiles and sings sweet songs to me.
Sleep on, O baby, while I keep
My vigils till this day be passed!
Then shall I, too, lie down at last,
And with my baby darling sleep.
Scheme | ABBA CDDC EFFE GHHG IJJI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 11011111 110110101 1111011 11110111 11011101 1111101 11111101 11011101 11010101 110101010 110111010 100101001 01111111 11000101 11110101 11011111 11110111 11011111 11111111 01110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 648 |
Words | 132 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 99 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 40 sec read
- 38 Views
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"The Sleeping Child" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/13094/the-sleeping-child>.
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