Analysis of Let such pure hate still underprop

Henry David Thoreau 1817 (Concord) – 1862 (Concord)



Let such pure hate still underprop
Our love, that we may be
Each other's conscience,
And have our sympathy
Mainly from thence.
We'll one another treat like gods,
And all the faith we have
In virtue and in truth, bestow
On either, and suspicion leave
To gods below.

Two solitary stars--
Unmeasured systems far
Between us roll;
But by our conscious light we are
Determined to one pole.

What need confound the sphere?--
Love can afford to wait;
For it no hour's too late
That witnesseth one duty's end,
Or to another doth beginning lend.

It will subserve no use,
More than the tints of flowers;
Only the independent guest
Frequents its bowers,
Inherits its bequest.

No speech, though kind, has it;
But kinder silence doles
Unto its mates;
By night consoles,
By day congratulates.

What saith the tongue to tongue?
What hearest ear of ear?
By the decrees of fate
From year to year,
Does it communicate.

Pathless the gulf of feeling yawns;
No trivial bridge of words,
Or arch of boldest span,
Can leap the moat that girds
The sincere man.

No show of bolts and bars
Can keep the foeman out,
Or 'scape his secret mine,
Who entered with the doubt
That drew the line.

No warder at the gate
Can let the friendly in;
But, like the sun, o'er all
He will the castle win,
And shine along the wall.

There's nothing in the world I know
That can escape from love,
For every depth it goes below,
And every height above.
It waits, as waits the sky,
Until the clouds go by,
Yet shines serenely on
With an eternal day,
Alike when they are gone,
And when they stay.

Implacable is Love--
Foes may be bought or teased
From their hostile intent,
But he goes unappeased
Who is on kindness bent.


Scheme XABAXXXCXC DEFEF GHHII XJKJK XLXLB XXHGH XMNMN DOPOP HQRQR CSCSTTXUXU SXVCV
Poetic Form Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 111111 1011111 11010 0110100 1011 11010111 010111 01000101 11000101 1101 11001 1101 0111 111010111 010111 110101 110111 1111011 11111 1101010101 11111 1101110 1000101 10110 010101 111111 110101 1011 1101 111 110111 11111 100111 1111 11010 1011101 1100111 111101 110111 0011 111101 11011 111101 110101 1101 110101 110100 1101101 110101 010101 11000111 110111 110011101 0100101 111101 010111 1101001 110101 011111 0111 010011 111111 111001 1111 111101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,675
Words 309
Sentences 17
Stanzas 11
Stanza Lengths 10, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 10, 5
Lines Amount 65
Letters per line (avg) 20
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 118
Words per stanza (avg) 28
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 16, 2023

1:34 min read
138

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist. more…

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