Analysis of On The Consequences Of Happy Marriages

George Moses Horton 1779 (North Carolina) – 1883



Hail happy pair from whom such raptures rise,
On whom I gaze with pleasure and surprize;
From thy bright rays the gloom of strife is driven,
For all the smiles of mutual love are Heaven.

Thrice happy pair! no earthly joys excel
Thy peaceful state; there constant pleasures dwell,
Which cheer the mind and elevate the soul,
Whilst discord sinks beneath their soft control.

The blaze of zeal extends from breast to breast,
While Heaven supplies each innocent request;
And lo! what fond regard their smiles reveal,
Attractive as the magnet to the steel.

Their peaceful life is all content and ease,
They with delight each other strive to please;
Each other's charms, they only can admire,
Whose bosoms burn with pure connubial fire.

Th' indelible vestige of unblemished love,
Must hence a guide to generations prove:
Though virtuous partners moulder in the tomb,
Their light may shine on ages yet to come.

With grateful tears their well-spent day shall close,
When death like evening calls them to repose;
Then mystic smiles may break from deep disguise,
Like Vesper's torch transpiring in the skies.

Like constellations still their works may shine,
In virtue's unextinguished blaze divine;
Happy are they whose race shall end the same--
Sweeter than odours is a virtuous name.

Such is the transcript of unfading grace,
[illegible] eflecting lustre on a future race.
[illegible] virtuous on this line delight to tread,
[illegible] magnify the honors of the dead--

Who like a Phoenix did not burn in vain,
Incinerated to revive again;
From whose exalted urn young love shall rise,
Exulting from a funeral sacrifice.


Scheme AABB CCDD EEFF GGXX XXXX XXAA HHII JJKK XXAX
Poetic Form Quatrain  (56%)
Metre 110111111 111111001 11110111110 110111001110 1101110101 1101110101 110101001 1101011101 0111011111 11001110001 0111011101 0101010101 1101111001 1101110111 1101110101 11111110 1101001010101 110110101 11001010001 1111110111 1101111111 1111011101 1101111101 1110100001 101011111 011101 1011111101 1011101001 1101111 111010101 11001110111 110010101 1101011101 010010101 1101011111 0101010010
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,584
Words 269
Sentences 12
Stanzas 9
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 36
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 144
Words per stanza (avg) 30
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:21 min read
48

George Moses Horton

George Moses Horton was an African-American poet and the first African American poet to be published in the Southern United States. His book was published in 1828 while he was still a slave; he remained a slave until he was emancipated late in the Civil War. more…

All George Moses Horton poems | George Moses Horton Books

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