Analysis of Storm and Calm
Henry Timrod 1828 (Charleston) – 1867 (Columbia)
Sweet are these kisses of the South,
As dropped from woman's rosiest mouth,
And tenderer are those azure skies
Than this world's tenderest pair of eyes!
But ah! beneath such influence
Thought is too often lost in Sense;
And Action, faltering as we thrill,
Sinks in the unnerved arms of Will.
Awake, thou stormy North, and blast
The subtle spells around us cast;
Beat from our limbs these flowery chains
With the sharp scourges of thy rains!
Bring with thee from thy Polar cave
All the wild songs of wind and wave,
Of toppling berg and grinding floe,
And the dread avalanche of snow!
Wrap us in Arctic night and clouds!
Yell like a fiend amid the shrouds
Of some slow-sinking vessel, when
He hears the shrieks of drowning men!
Blend in thy mighty voice whate'er
Of danger, terror, and despair
Thou hast encountered in thy sweep
Across the land and o'er the deep.
Pour in our ears all notes of woe,
That, as these very moments flow,
Rise like a harsh discordant psalm,
While we lie here in tropic calm.
Sting our weak hearts with bitter shame,
Bear us along with thee like flame;
And prove that even to destroy
More God-like may be than to toy
And rust or rot in idle joy!
Scheme | AABB XXCC DDEE FFGG HHII XXJJ GGXX KKLLL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110101 1111011 0111101 1111111 11011100 11110101 010100111 10001111 01110101 01010111 1110111001 10110111 11111101 10111101 110010101 0011011 11010101 11010101 11110101 11011101 10110110 11010001 11010011 010101001 101011111 11110101 11010101 11110101 110111101 11011111 01110101 11111111 01110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,146 |
Words | 217 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5 |
Lines Amount | 33 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 115 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 65 Views
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"Storm and Calm" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18273/storm-and-calm>.
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