Analysis of Dirge Over A Nameless Grave
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
By yon still river, where the wave
Is winding slow at evening's close,
The beech, upon a nameless grave,
Its sadly-moving shadow throws.
O'er the fair woods the sun looks down
Upon the many-twinkling leaves,
And twilight's mellow shades are brown,
Where darkly the green turf upheaves.
The river glides in silence there,
And hardly waves the sapling tree:
Sweet flowers are springing, and the air
Is full of balm,-- but where is she!
They bade her wed a son of pride,
And leave the hope she cherished long:
She loved but one,-- and would not hide
A love which knew no wrong.
And months went sadly on,-- and years:--
And she was wasting day by day:
At length she died, -- and many tears
Were shed, that she should pass away.
Then came a gray old man, and knelt
With bitter weeping by her tomb:--
And others mourned for him, who felt
That he had sealed a daughter's doom.
The funeral train has long past on,
And time wiped dry the father's tear!
Farewell -- lost maiden! -- there is one
That mourns thee yet -- and he is here.
Scheme | ABAX CXCB DEDE FGFG XHXH IJIJ XDXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (71%) |
Metre | 11110101 11011101 01010101 1101011 100110111 010101001 0110111 1100111 01010101 01010101 110110001 11111111 11010111 01011101 11110111 011111 01110101 01110111 11110101 01111101 11011101 11010101 01011111 11110101 010011111 01110101 1110111 11110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,005 |
Words | 198 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 111 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 51 Views
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"Dirge Over A Nameless Grave" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18562/dirge-over-a-nameless-grave>.
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