Analysis of The wanderer
Eugene Field 1850 (St. Louis) – 1895 (Chicago)
Upon a mountain height, far from the sea,
I found a shell,
And to my listening ear the lonely thing
Ever a song of ocean seemed to sing,
Ever a tale of ocean seemed to tell.
How came the shell upon that mountain height?
Ah, who can say
Whether there dropped by some too careless hand,
Or whether there cast when Ocean swept the Land,
Ere the Eternal had ordained the Day?
Strange, was it not? Far from its native deep,
One song it sang,--
Sang of the awful mysteries of the tide,
Sang of the misty sea, profound and wide,--
Ever with echoes of the ocean rang.
And as the shell upon the mountain height
Sings of the sea,
So do I ever, leagues and leagues away,--
So do I ever, wandering where I may,--
Sing, O my home! sing, O my home! of thee.
Scheme | ABCCB DEFFE XGHHG DAEEA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (40%) |
Metre | 0101011101 1101 01110010101 1001110111 1001110111 1101011101 1111 1011111101 11011110101 1001010101 1111111101 1111 11010100101 1101010101 1011010101 0101010101 1101 1111010101 11110100111 1111111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 761 |
Words | 153 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 141 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 37 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 45 sec read
- 109 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The wanderer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/13108/the-wanderer>.
Discuss this Eugene Field poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In