Analysis of Achan
Henry Kendall 1839 (Australia) – 1882 (Sydney)
HATH he not followed a star through the darkness,
Ye people who sit at the table of Jephthah?
Oh! turn with the face to a light in the mountains,
Behold it is further from Achan than ever!
“I know how it is with my brothers in Mizpeh,”
Said Achan, the swift-footed runner of Zorah,
“They look at the wood they have hewn for the altar;
And think of a shadow in sackcloth and ashes.
“I know how it is with the daughter of Jephthah,
(O Ada, my love, and the fairest of women!)
She wails in the time when her heart is so zealous
For God who hath stricken the children of Ammon.
“I said I would bring her the odours of Edom,
And armfuls of spices to set at the banquet!
Behold I have fronted the chieftain her father;
And strong men have wept for the leader of thousands!
“My love is a rose of the roses of Sharon,
All lonely and bright as the Moon in the myrtles!
Her lips, like to honeycombs, fill with the sweetness
That Achan the thirsty is hindered from drinking.
“Her women have wept for the love that is wasted
Like wine, which is spilt when the people are wanting,
And hot winds have dried all the cisterns of Elim!
For love that is wasted her women were wailing!
“The timbrels fall silent! And dost thou not hear it,
A voice, like the sound of a lute when we loiter,
And sit by the pools in the valleys of Arnon,
And suck the cool grapes that are growing in clusters?
“She glides, like a myrrh-scented wind, through the willows,
O Ada! behold it is Achan that speaketh:
I know thou art near me, but never can see thee,
Because of the horrible drouth in mine eyelids.”
Scheme | ABXCXXCX BDAD EXCX DXAF XFEF XCDX XBBX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110011010 11011101011 111011010010 01111011110 11111111001 11011010110 111011111010 0110101010 11111101011 110110010110 110011011110 111110010110 1111100111 01110111010 011110010010 011111010110 111011010110 110011010010 0111111010 11010110110 010111011110 111111010110 01111101011 111110010010 01110011111 011011011110 01101001011 010111110010 11101101101 1100111111 111111110111 01101001011 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,599 |
Words | 308 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 38 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 173 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 43 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:32 min read
- 68 Views
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"Achan" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17433/achan>.
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