Analysis of Ultimum
Francis Thompson 1859 (City of Preston, Lancashire) – 1907 (London)
Now in these last spent drops, slow, slower shed,
Love dies, Love dies, Love dies--ah, Love is dead!
Sad Love in life, sore Love in agony,
Pale Love in death; while all his offspring songs,
Like children, versed not in death's chilly wrongs,
About him flit, frighted to see him lie
So still, who did not know that Love could die.
One lifts his wing, where dulls the vermeil all
Like clotting blood, and shrinks to find it cold,
And when she sees its lapse and nerveless fall
Clasps her fans, while her sobs ooze through the webb-ed gold.
Thereat all weep together, and their tears
Make lights like shivered moonlight on long waters.
Have peace, O piteous daughters!
He shall not wake more through the mortal years,
Nor comfort come to my soul widow-ed,
Nor breath to your wild wings; for Love is dead!
I slew, that moan for him: he lifted me
Above myself, and that I might not be
Less than myself, need was that he should die;
Since Love that first did wing, now clogged me from the sky.
Yet lofty Love being dead thus passeth base--
There is a soul of nobleness which stays,
The spectre of the rose: be comforted,
Songs, for the dust that dims his sacred head!
The days draw on too dark for Song or Love;
O peace, my songs, nor stir ye any wing!
For lo, the thunder hushing all the grove,
And did Love live, not even Love could sing.
And, Lady, thus I dare to say,
Not all with you is passed away!
For your love taught me this:-'tis Love's true praise
To be, not staff, but writ of worthy days;
And that high worth in love unfortunate
Should still remain it learned in love elate.
Beyond your star, still, still the stars are bright;
Beyond your highness, still I follow height;
Sole I go forth, yet still to my sad view,
Beyond your trueness, Lady, Truth stands true.
This wisdom sings my song with last firm breath,
Caught from the twisted lore of Love and Death,
The strange inwoven harmony that wakes
From Pallas' straying locks twined with her aegis-snakes.
'On him the unpetitioned heavens descend,
Who heaven on earth proposes not for end;
The perilous and celestial excess
Taking with peace, lacking with thankfulness.
Bliss in extreme befits thee not, until
Thou'rt not extreme in bliss; be equal still:
Sweets to be granted think thy self unmeet
Till thou have learned to hold sweet not too sweet.'
This thing not far is he from wise in art
Who teacheth; nor who doth, from wise in heart.
Scheme | AABCCDDEFEFXGGXAA BBDDXHXAXIXI JJHHXXKKLLMMNNOOXCPPAXQQ |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011111101 1111111111 1101110100 110111111 1101101101 011111111 1111111111 111111011 1101011111 011111011 101101110111 111010011 1111011110 111110 1111110101 1101111101 1111111111 1111111101 011011111 111111111 111111111101 1101101111 11011111 0101011100 1101111101 0111111111 1111111101 110101101 0111110111 01011111 11111101 1111111111 1111111101 0111010100 1101110101 0111110111 0111011101 1111111111 011110111 1101111111 1101011101 01110011 110101110101 11011001 11011010111 010000101 10111011 1001011101 1101011101 111101111 1111111111 1111111101 111111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,355 |
Words | 444 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 17, 12, 24 |
Lines Amount | 53 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 621 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 147 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 30, 2023
- 2:14 min read
- 63 Views
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"Ultimum" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/13955/ultimum>.
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