Analysis of In The Harbour: Decoration Day

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



Sleep, comrades, sleep and rest
On this Field of the Grounded Arms,
Where foes no more molest,
Nor sentry's shot alarms!

Ye have slept on the ground before,
And started to your feet
At the cannon's sudden roar,
Or the drum's redoubling beat.

But in this camp of Death
No sound your slumber breaks;
Here is no fevered breath,
No wound that bleeds and aches.

All is repose and peace,
Untrampled lies the sod;
The shouts of battle cease,
It is the Truce of God!

Rest, comrades, rest and sleep!
The thoughts of men shall be
As sentinels to keep
Your rest from danger free.

Your silent tents of green
We deck with fragrant flowers;
Yours has the suffering been,
The memory shall be ours.


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ XKXK
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 11101 11110101 111101 11101 11110101 010111 1010101 10101001 101111 111101 111101 111101 110101 1101 011101 110111 11101 011111 110011 111101 110111 1111010 1101001 01001110
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 672
Words 127
Sentences 8
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 89
Words per stanza (avg) 21
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

39 sec read
105

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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