Analysis of The Water Lily
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
A lonely young wife
In her dreaming discerns
A lily-decked pool
With a border of ferns,
And a beautiful child,
With butterfly wings,
Trips down to the edge of the water and sings:
‘Come, mamma! come!
‘Quick! follow me—
‘Step out on the leaves of the water-lily!’
And the lonely young wife,
Her heart beating wild,
Cries, ‘Wait till I come,
‘Till I reach you, my child!’
But the beautiful child
With butterfly wings
Steps out on the leaves of the lily and sings:
‘Come, mamma! come!
‘Quick! follow me!
‘And step on the leaves of the water-lily!
And the wife in her dreaming
Steps out on the stream,
But the lily leaves sink
And she wakes from her dream.
Ah, the waking is sad,
For the tears that it brings,
And she knows ’tis her dead baby’s spirit that sings:
‘Come, mamma! come!
‘Quick! follow me!
‘Step out on the leaves of the water-lily!’
Scheme | abxbcDdEFFaceccDdEFf xgxgxddEFF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (37%) Etheree (37%) |
Metre | 01011 001001 01011 101011 001001 1101 11101101001 1101 1101 11101101010 001011 01101 11111 111111 101001 1101 11101101001 1101 1101 01101101010 0010010 11101 101011 011101 101011 101111 01110111011 1101 1101 11101101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 857 |
Words | 160 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 20, 10 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 317 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 78 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 19, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 161 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Water Lily" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18137/the-water-lily>.
Discuss this Henry Lawson poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In