Analysis of Meditation On A Cold, Dark, And Rainy Night
George Moses Horton 1779 (North Carolina) – 1883
Sweet on the house top falls the gentle shower,
When jet black darkness crowns the silent hour,
When shrill the owlet pours her hollow tone,
Like some lost child sequester'd and alone,
When Will's bewildering wisp begins to flare,
And Philomela breathes her dulcet air,
'Tis sweet to listen to her nightly tune,
Deprived of star-light or the smiling moon.
When deadly winds sweep round the rural shed,
And tell of strangers lost, without a bed,
Fond sympathy invokes her dol'rous lay,
And pleasure steals in sorrow's gloom away,
Till fost'ring Somnus bids my eyes to close,
And smiling visions open to repose;
Still on my soothing couch I lie at ease,
Still round my chamber flows the whistling breeze,
Still in the chain of sleep I lie confined,
To all the threat'ning ills of life resign'd,
Regardless of the wand'ring elf of night,
While phantoms break on my immortal sight.
The trump of morning bids my slumbers end,
While from a flood of rest I straight ascend,
When on a busy world I cast my eyes,
And think of nightly slumbers with surprise.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGHIIJJKKLLMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011101010 11110101010 110110101 1111010001 11010010111 001010101 1111010101 0111110101 1101110101 0111010101 110001011 010101101 11111111 0101010101 1111011111 1111010101 1001111101 1101111101 0101011111 1101110101 011101111 1101111101 1101011111 011101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,056 |
Words | 186 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 24 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 830 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 184 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 58 sec read
- 58 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Meditation On A Cold, Dark, And Rainy Night" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15723/meditation-on-a-cold%2C-dark%2C-and-rainy-night>.
Discuss this George Moses Horton 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