Analysis of The Child Asleep. (From The French)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
Sweet babe! true portrait of thy father's face,
Sleep on the bosom that thy lips have pressed!
Sleep, little one; and closely, gently place
Thy drowsy eyelid on thy mother's breast.
Upon that tender eye, my little friend,
Soft sleep shall come, that cometh not to me!
I watch to see thee, nourish thee, defend;
'Tis sweet to watch for thee, alone for thee!
His arms fall down; sleep sits upon his brow;
His eye is closed; he sleeps, nor dreams of harm.
Wore not his cheek the apple's ruddy glow,
Would you not say he slept on Death's cold arm?
Awake, my boy! I tremble with affright!
Awake, and chase this fatal thought! Unclose
Thine eye but for one moment on the light!
Even at the price of thine, give me repose!
Sweet error! he but slept! -- I breathe again;
Come, gentle dreams, the hour of sleep beguile!
Oh, when shall he, for whom I sigh in vain,
Beside me watch to see thy waking smile?
Scheme | ABAB CDCD XEXE BAXX XFXF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1111011101 1101011111 1101010101 110111101 0111011101 1111110111 1111110101 1111110111 1111110111 1111111111 1111010101 1111111111 011111011 010111011 1111110101 10101111101 1101111101 11010101101 1111111101 0111111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 885 |
Words | 170 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 136 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 34 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 52 sec read
- 89 Views
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