Analysis of Modern Elfland
Gilbert Keith Chesterton 1874 (Kensington, London) – 1936 (Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire)
I cut a staff in a churchyard copse,
I clad myself in ragged things,
I set a feather in my cap
That fell out of an angel's wings.
I filled my wallet with white stones,
I took three foxgloves in my hand,
I slung my shoes across my back,
And so I went to fairyland.
But lo, within that ancient place
Science had reared her iron crown,
And the great cloud of steam went up
That telleth where she takes a town.
But cowled with smoke and starred with lamps,
That strange land's light was still its own;
The word that witched the woods and hills
Spoke in the iron and the stone.
Not Nature's hand had ever curved
That mute unearthly porter's spine.
Like sleeping dragon's sudden eyes
The signals leered along the line.
The chimneys thronging crooked or straight
Were fingers signalling the sky;
The dog that strayed across the street
Seemed four-legged by monstrosity.
‘In vain,' I cried, ‘though you too touch
The new time's desecrating hand,
Through all the noises of a town
I hear the heart of fairyland.'
I read the name above a door,
Then through my spirit pealed and passed:
‘This is the town of thine own home,
And thou hast looked on it at last.'
Scheme | AAXA ABXB ACXC ADAD XEAE XXXX XBCB XFXF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (75%) |
Metre | 11010011 1110101 11010011 1111111 11110111 1111011 11110111 0111110 11011101 10110101 00111111 1111101 11110111 11111111 01110101 10010001 11011101 11010101 11010101 01010101 01011011 01010001 01110101 111010100 01111111 01111 11010101 1101110 11010101 11110101 11011111 01111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,179 |
Words | 218 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 112 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 27, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 128 Views
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"Modern Elfland" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15981/modern-elfland>.
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