Analysis of Clay’s Defeat
George Moses Horton 1779 (North Carolina) – 1883
'Tis the hope of the noble defeated;
The aim of the marksman is vain;
The wish of destruction completed,
The soldier eternally slain.
When winter succeeds to the summer,
The bird is too chilly to sing;
No music is play'd for the drummer,
No carol is heard on the wing.
The court of a nation forsaken,
An edifice stripp'd of its dome,
Its fame from her pinnacle shaken,
Like the sigh heaving downfall of Rome.
Fall'n, fall'n is the chief of the witty,
The prince of republican power;
The star-crown of Washington City
Descends his political tower.
The gold-plated seat is bespoken,
The brave of the west is before;
The bowl at the fountain is broken,
The music of fame is no more.
No longer a wonderful story
Is told for the brave whig to hear,
Whose sun leaves his circuit of glory,
Or sinks from the light of his sphere.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GCGC BHEH GXGX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (83%) |
Metre | 1011010010 01101011 011010010 01001001 110011010 01111011 110111010 11011101 011010010 11001111 111010010 10110111 11111011010 011010010 011110010 011010010 0110111 01101101 011010110 01011111 110010010 11101111 111110110 11101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 829 |
Words | 153 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 107 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 47 sec read
- 89 Views
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"Clay’s Defeat" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15708/clay%E2%80%99s-defeat>.
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