Analysis of Sympathy



Lately alas I knew a gentle boy,
Whose features all were cast in Virtue's mould,
As one she had designed for Beauty's toy,
But after manned him for her own strong-hold.
On every side he open was as day,
That you might see no lack of strength within,
For walls and ports do only serve alway
For a pretence to feebleness and sin.

Say not that Cćsar was victorious,
With toil and strife who stormed the House of Fame;
In other sense this youth was glorious,
Himself a kingdom wheresoe'er he came.

No strength went out to get him victory,
When all was income of its own accord;
For where he went none other was to see,
But all were parcel of their noble lord.

He forayed like the subtle breeze of summer,
That stilly shows fresh landscapes to the eyes,
And revolutions worked without a murmur,
Or rustling of a leaf beneath the skies.

So was I taken unawares by this,
I quite forgot my homage to confess;
Yet now am forced to know, though hard it is,
I might have loved him, had I loved him less.

Each moment, as we nearer drew to each,
A stern respect withheld us farther yet,
So that we seemed beyond each other's reach,
And less acquainted than when first we met.

We two were one while we did sympathize,
So could we not the simplest bargain drive;
And what avails it now that we are wise,
If absence doth this doubleness contrive?

Eternity may not the chance repeat,
But I must tread my single way alone,
In sad remembrance that we once did meet,
And know that bliss irrevocably gone.

The spheres henceforth my elegy shall sing,
For elegy has other subject none;
Each strain of music in my ears shall ring
Knell of departure from that other one.

Make haste and celebrate my tragedy;
With fitting strain resound ye woods and fields;
Sorrow is dearer in such case to me
Than all the joys other occasion yields.

Is't then too late the damage to repair?
Distance, forsooth, from my weak grasp hath reft
The empty husk, and clutched the useless tare,
But in my hands the wheat and kernel left.

If I but love that virtue which he is,
Though it be scented in the morning air,
Still shall we be truest acquaintances,
Nor mortals know a sympathy more rare.


Scheme ABABXCXC DEDE FGFG HIHI XJKJ LMLM ININ OXOX PQPQ FRFR SBFX KSKS
Poetic Form
Metre 1001110101 110101011 111101111 1101110111 11001110111 1111111101 110111011 1011101 1111110100 1101110111 0101111100 01010111 1111111100 111111101 1111110111 1101011101 11010101110 11111101 0010101010 1101010101 111100111 1101110101 1111111111 1111111111 1101110111 0101011101 1111011101 0101011111 110111110 1111010101 011111111 11011101 0100110101 1111110101 0101011111 0111010001 0111110011 1100110011 1111001111 1101011101 110101100 110111101 1011001111 1101100101 11111010101 101111111 0101010101 1011010101 1111110111 1111000101 1111100100 1101010011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 2,144
Words 402
Sentences 15
Stanzas 12
Stanza Lengths 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 52
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 141
Words per stanza (avg) 33
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

2:02 min read
149

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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