Analysis of The Star Sirius

George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)



Bright Sirius! that when Orion pales
To dotlings under moonlight still art keen
With cheerful fervour of a warrior's mien
Who holds in his great heart the battle-scales:
Unquenched of flame though swift the flood assails,
Reducing many lustrous to the lean:
Be thou my star, and thou in me be seen
To show what source divine is, and prevails.
Long watches through, at one with godly night,
I mark thee planting joy in constant fire;
And thy quick beams, whose jets of life inspire
Life to the spirit, passion for the light,
Dark Earth since first she lost her lord from sight
Has viewed and felt them sweep her as a lyre.


Scheme ABBAABBACDECCE
Poetic Form
Metre 11110101 11101111 11011011 1101110101 111110101 0101010101 1111010111 1111011001 1101111101 11110101010 0111111101 1101010101 1111110111 1101110101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 616
Words 115
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 493
Words per stanza (avg) 113
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
30

George Meredith

George Meredith was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times. more…

All George Meredith poems | George Meredith Books

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