Analysis of Light of Stars, The
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
The night is come, but not too soon;
And sinking silently,
All silently, the little moon
Drops down behind the sky.
There is no light in earth or heaven
But the cold light of stars;
And the first watch of night is given
To the red planet Mars.
Is it the tender star of love?
The star of love and dreams?
O no! from that blue tent above,
A hero's armor gleams.
And earnest thoughts within me rise,
When I behold afar,
Suspended in the evening skies,
The shield of that red star.
O star of strength! I see thee stand
And smile upon my pain;
Thou beckonest with thy mailed hand,
And I am strong again.
Within my breast there is no light
But the cold light of stars;
I give the first watch of the night
To the red planet Mars.
The star of the unconquered will,
He rises in my breast,
Serene, and resolute, and still,
And calm, and self-possessed.
And thou, too, whosoe'er thou art,
That readest this brief psalm,
As one by one thy hopes depart,
Be resolute and calm.
O fear not in a world like this,
And thou shalt know erelong,
Know how sublime a thing it is
To suffer and be strong.
Scheme | axab cDcD efef ghgh ixix jDjD klkl mxmx xbxx |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (67%) |
Metre | 01111111 010100 11000101 110101 111101110 101111 001111110 101101 11010111 011101 11111101 010101 01010111 110101 01000101 011111 11111111 010111 111111 011101 01111111 101111 11011101 101101 011011 110011 0101001 010101 011111 11111 11111101 11001 11100111 01111 11010111 110011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,089 |
Words | 212 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 92 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:04 min read
- 133 Views
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"Light of Stars, The" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18676/light-of-stars%2C-the>.
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