Analysis of The Dead Kings
Francis Ledwidge 1887 (Slane) – 1917 (Boezinge)
All the dead kings came to me
At Rosnaree, where I was dreaming.
A few stars glimmered through the morn,
And down the thorn the dews were streaming.
And every dead king had a story
Of ancient glory, sweetly told.
It was too early for the lark,
But the starry dark had tints of gold.
I listened to the sorrows three
Of that Eire passed into song.
A cock crowed near a hazel croft,
And up aloft dim larks winged strong.
And I, too, told the kings a story
Of later glory, her fourth sorrow:
There was a sound like moving shields
In high green fields and the lowland furrow.
And one said : ' We who yet are kings
Have heard these things lamenting inly.'
Sweet music flowed from many a bill
And on the hill the morn stood queenly.
And one said : ' Over is the singing,
And bell bough ringing, whence we come ;
With heavy hearts we'll tread the shadows,
In honey meadows birds are dumb.'
And one said : ' Since the poets perished
And all they cherished in the way,
Their thoughts unsung, like petal showers
Inflame the hours of blue and gray.'
And one said : ' A loud tramp of men
We'll hear again at Rosnaree.'
A bomb burst near me where I lay.
I woke, 'twas day in Picardy.
Scheme | ABXB ACXC ADXD AEXE XFFF BGXG XHXH XEFC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (75%) |
Metre | 1011111 1111110 0111101 010101010 0100111010 11010101 11110101 101011111 11010101 1111011 01110101 01011111 011101010 110100110 11011101 011100110 01111111 11110101 110111001 01010111 011101010 01110111 11011101 0101111 011101010 01110001 110111010 010101101 01101111 110111 01111111 111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,146 |
Words | 230 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 112 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 04, 2023
- 1:07 min read
- 131 Views
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