Analysis of Poppies on the Wheat

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



Along Ancona's hills the shimmering heat,
A tropic tide of air with ebb and flow
Bathes all the fields of wheat until they glow
Like flashing seas of green, which toss and beat
Around the vines. The poppies lithe and fleet
Seem running, fiery torchmen, to and fro
To mark the shore.
The farmer does not know
That they are there. He walks with heavy feet,
Counting the bread and wine by autumn's gain,
But I,--I smile to think that days remain
Perhaps to me in which, through bread be sweet
No more, and red wine warm my blood in vain,
I shall be glad remembering how the fleet,
Lithe poppies ran like torchmen with the wheat.


Scheme ABBAABCBADDADAA
Poetic Form Tetractys  (27%)
Metre 011101001 0101111101 1101110111 1101111101 0101010101 1101001101 1101 010111 1111111101 1001011101 1111111101 0111011111 1101111101 11110100101 110111101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 633
Words 120
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 15
Lines Amount 15
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 490
Words per stanza (avg) 117
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
63

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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