Analysis of Granta: A Medley
George Gordon Lord Byron 1788 (London) – 1824 (Missolonghi, Aetolia)
Oh! could Le Sage's demon's gift
Be realized at my desire,
This night my trembling form he'd lift
To place it on St. Mary's spire.
Then would, unroof'd, old Granta's halls
Pedantic inmates full display;
Fellows who dream on lawn or stalls'
The price of venal votes to pay.
Then would I view each rival wight,
Petty and Palreerston survey;
Who canvass there with all their might,
Against the next elective day.
Lo! candidates and voters lie
All lull'd in sleep, a goodly number;
A race renown'd for piety
Whose conscience won't disturb their slumber.
Lord H –, indeed, rnay not demur:
Fellows are sage, reflecting men:
They know preferment can occur
But very seldom, – now and then.
They know the Chancellor has got
Some pretty livings in disposal:
Each hopes that one may be his lot,
And therefore smiles on his proposal.
Now from the soporific scene
I'll turn mine eye, as night grows later,
To view, unheeded and unseen,
The studious sons of Alma Mater.
There, in apartments small and damp,
The candidate for college prizes
Sits poring by the midnight lamp;
Goes late to bed, yet early rises.
He surely well deserves to gain them,
With all the honours of his college,
Who, striving hardly to obtain them,
Thus seeks unprofitable knowledge:
Who sacrifices hours of rest
To scan precisely meres Attic;
Or agitates his anxious breast
In solving problems mathematic:
Who reads false quantities in Seale,
Or puzzles o'er the deep triangle;
Deprived of many a wholesome meal;
In barbarous Latin doom'd to wrangle:
Renouncing every pleasing page
From authors of historic use;
Preferring to the letter'd sage
The square of the hypothenuse.
Still, harmless are these occupations
That hurt none but the hapless student,
Compared with other recreations,
Which bring together the imprudent;
Whose daring revels shock the sight,
When vice and infamy combine,
When drunkenness and dice invite,
As every sense is steep'd in wine.
Not so the methodistic crew,
Who plans of reformation lay:
In humble attitude they sue,
And for the sins of others pray:
Forgetting that their pride of spirit
Their exultation in their trial
Detracts most largely from the merit
Of all their boasted self-denial.
'Tis morn:– from these I turn my sight.
What scene is this which meets the eye?
A numerous crowd, array'd in white,
Across the green in numbers fly.
Loud rings in air the chapel bell;
'Tis hush'd:-what sounds are these I hear?
The organ's soft celestial swell
Rolls deeply on the list'ning ear.
To this is join'd the sacred song,
The royal minstrel's hallow'd strain;
Though he who hears the music long
Will never wish to hear again.
.Our choir would be scarcely excused,
Even as a band of raw beginners;
All mercy now must be refused
To such a set of croaking sinners.
If David, when his toils were ended,
Had heard these blockheads sing before him,
To us his psalms had ne'er descended,–
In furious mood he would have tore 'em.
The luckless Israelites, when taken
By some inhuman tyrant's order,
Were ask'd to sing, by joy forsaken
On Babylonian river's border.
Oh! had they sung in notes like these,
Inspired by stratagem or fear,
They might have set their hearts at ease
The devil a soul had stay'd to hear.
But if I scribble longer now
The deuce a soul will stay to read;
My pen is blunt, my ink is low;
'Tis almost time to stop, indeed.
Therefore, farewell old Granta's spires!
No more like Cleofas, I fly;
No more thy theme my muse inspires;
The reader's tired, and so am I.
Scheme | ABAX CDCD EDED FBXB BGBG HIHI JBJB KLKL MXMX NONO PIPI QXQC XRCR ESES TDTD UIUI EFEF VWVW XXXG YZYZ 1 X1 M 2 B2 B 3 X3 W XXXX 4 F4 F |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (76%) Etheree (28%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1101011 11011010 111100111 11111101 111111 0101101 10111111 01110111 11111101 100101 11011111 01010101 11000101 110101010 01011100 110101110 11011101 10110101 111101 11010101 11010011 110100010 11111111 01111010 11011 111111110 11010001 0100111010 10010101 010011010 1101011 111111010 110101111 11011110 110101011 110100010 11001011 11010110 111101 01010010 11110001 110100110 011100101 0100101110 010100101 11010101 01010101 01101 11011010 111101010 011101 110100010 11010101 11010010 11000101 110011101 11011 1110101 0101011 01011101 010111110 110110 011101010 111101010 11111111 11111101 010010101 01010101 11010101 11111111 0110101 11010111 11110101 0101101 11110101 11011101 1010111001 1010111010 11011101 110111010 110111010 11111011 111111010 0100111111 01010110 11010110 011111010 101001010 11110111 010110011 11111111 010011111 11110101 01011111 11111111 1111101 11111 111111 11111101 010100111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,426 |
Words | 607 |
Sentences | 30 |
Stanzas | 25 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 100 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 109 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 3:10 min read
- 139 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Granta: A Medley" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15105/granta%3A-a-medley>.
Discuss this George Gordon Lord Byron 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