Analysis of Flower-De-Luce: The Wind Over The Chimney
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
See, the fire is sinking low,
Dusky red the embers glow,
While above them still I cower,
While a moment more I linger,
Though the clock, with lifted finger,
Points beyond the midnight hour.
Sings the blackened log a tune
Learned in some forgotten June
From a school-boy at his play,
When they both were young together,
Heart of youth and summer weather
Making all their holiday.
And the night-wind rising, hark!
How above there in the dark,
In the midnight and the snow,
Ever wilder, fiercer, grander,
Like the trumpets of Iskander,
All the noisy chimneys blow!
Every quivering tongue of flame
Seems to murmur some great name,
Seems to say to me, 'Aspire!'
But the night-wind answers, 'Hollow
Are the visions that you follow,
Into darkness sinks your fire!'
Then the flicker of the blaze
Gleams on volumes of old days,
Written by masters of the art,
Loud through whose majestic pages
Rolls the melody of ages,
Throb the harp-strings of the heart.
And again the tongues of flame
Start exulting and exclaim:
'These are prophets, bards, and seers;
In the horoscope of nations,
Like ascendant constellations,
They control the coming years.'
But the night-wind cries: 'Despair!
Those who walk with feet of air
Leave no long-enduring marks;
At God's forges incandescent
Mighty hammers beat incessant,
These are but the flying sparks.
'Dust are all the hands that wrought;
Books are sepulchres of thought;
The dead laurels of the dead
Rustle for a moment only,
Like the withered leaves in lonely
Churchyards at some passing tread.'
Suddenly the flame sinks down;
Sink the rumors of renown;
And alone the night-wind drear
Clamors louder, wilder, vaguer,--
''Tis the brand of Meleager
Dying on the hearth-stone here!'
And I answer,--'Though it be,
Why should that discomfort me?
No endeavor is in vain;
Its reward is in the doing,
And the rapture of pursuing
Is the prize the vanquished gain.'
Scheme | AABBBB CCDBBD EEABBA FFXAAB GGHIIH FFXJJX KKLMML NNOPPO QQBBBX PPRSSR |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (32%) |
Metre | 10101101 110101 10111110 10101110 10111010 1010110 1010101 1010101 1011111 11101010 11101010 101110 0011101 1011001 001001 10101010 101011 1010101 100100111 1110111 1111101 10111010 10101110 01101110 1010101 1110111 10110101 11101010 10100110 1011101 0010111 1010001 1110101 0010110 1010010 1010101 1011101 1111111 1110101 1110010 10101010 1110101 1110111 11111 0110101 10101010 10101010 111101 1000111 1010101 0010111 1101010 10111 1010111 0110111 1110101 1010101 10110010 00101010 1010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,892 |
Words | 329 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 60 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 148 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:37 min read
- 69 Views
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"Flower-De-Luce: The Wind Over The Chimney" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18602/flower-de-luce%3A-the-wind-over-the-chimney>.
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