Analysis of At the River-Crossing
Harry 'Breaker' Harbord Morant 1864 (Bridgwater, Somerset) – 1902 (Pretoria)
Oh! the quiet river-crossing
Where we twain were wont to ride,
Where the wanton winds were to sing
Willow branches o'er the tide.
There the golden noon would find us
Dallying through the summer day,
All the waery world behind us -
All it's tumult far away.
Oh! thoe rides across the crossing
Where the shallow stream runs wide,
When the sunset's beams were glossing
Strips of sand on either side.
We would cross the sparkling river
On the brown horse and the bay;
Watch the willows sway and shiver
And their trembling shadows play.
When the opal tints waxed duller
And a gray crept o'er the skies
Yet there stayed the blue sky's color
In your dreamy dark-blue eyes.
How the sun-god's bright caresses,
When we rode at sunet there,
Plaited among your braided tresses,
Gleaming on your silky hair.
When the last sunlight's glory
Faded off the sandy bars,
There we learnt the old, old story,
Riding homeward 'neat the stars.
'Tis a memory to be hoarded -
Oh, the follish tale and fond!
Till another stream be forded -
And we reach the Great Beyond.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD ABAB EDED EFEF GHGH IJIJ XKBK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 10101010 1110111 10101011 1101001 10101111 110101 1011011 1110101 11101010 1010111 101101 1111101 11101010 1011001 1011010 0110011 10101110 00111001 11101110 0110111 10111010 111111 100111010 1011101 101110 1010101 11101110 1010101 101001110 101101 1010111 0110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,069 |
Words | 190 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 103 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 59 sec read
- 203 Views
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"At the River-Crossing" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/16955/at-the-river-crossing>.
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