Analysis of Flower-De-Luce: Giotto's Tower

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)



How many lives, made beautiful and sweet
By self-devotion and by self-restraint,
Whose pleasure is to run without complaint
On unknown errands of the Paraclete,
Wanting the reverence of unshodden feet,
Fail of the nimbus which the artists paint
Around the shining forehead of the saint,
And are in their completeness incomplete!
In the old Tuscan town stands Giotto's tower,
The lily of Florence blossoming in stone,--
A vision, a delight, and a desire,--
The builder's perfect and centennial flower,
That in the night of ages bloomed alone,
But wanting still the glory of the spire.


Scheme ABBAABBACDCCDE
Poetic Form
Metre 1101110001 1101001101 1101110101 10110101 100100111 1101010101 0101010101 0101010001 0011011110 01011010001 01000100010 010010010010 1001110101 1101010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 591
Words 100
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 466
Words per stanza (avg) 96
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

30 sec read
152

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. more…

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