Analysis of Faint and Weary Toiled a Pilgrim

Helen Hunt Jackson 1830 (Amherst, Massachusetts) – 1885 (San Francisco)



'Faint and weary toiled a pilgrim,
Faint and weary of his load;
Sudden came a sweet bird winging
Glad and swift across his road.

''Blessed songster!' cried the pilgrim,
'Where is now the load I bore?
I forget it in thy singing;
Hearing thee, I faint no more,'

'While he spoke the bird went winging
Higher still, and soared away;
'Cruel songster!' cried the pilgrim,
'Cruel songster not to stay!'

'Was the songster cruel? Never!
High above some other road
Glad and swift he still was singing,
Lightening other pilgrims' load!'


Scheme ABCB ADCD CEAE XBCB
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 10101010 1010111 10101110 1010111 111010 1110111 10110110 1011111 11101110 1010101 1011010 101111 1011010 1011101 10111110 10010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 518
Words 98
Sentences 9
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 101
Words per stanza (avg) 23
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

27 sec read
90

Helen Hunt Jackson

Helen Maria Hunt Jackson, born Helen Fiske, was an American poet and writer who became an activist on behalf of improved treatment of Native Americans by the United States government. more…

All Helen Hunt Jackson poems | Helen Hunt Jackson Books

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