Analysis of The Luck of Edenhall. From The German Of Uhland
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
Of Edenhall, the youthful Lord
Bids sound the festal trumpet's call.
He rises at the banquet board,
And cries, 'mid the drunken revellers all,
'Now bring me the Luck of Edenhall!'
The butler hears the words with pain,
The house's oldest seneschal,
Takes slow from its silken cloth again
The drinking glass of crystal tall;
They call it The Luck of Edenhall.
Then said the Lord, 'This glass to praise,
Fill with red wine from Portugal!'
The graybeard with trembling hand obeys;
A purple light shines over all,
It beams from the Luck of Edenhall.
Then speaks the Lord, and waves it light:
'This glass of flashing crystal tall
Gave to my sires the Fountain-Sprite;
She wrote in it,
If this glass doth fall,
Farewell then, O Luck of Edenhall!
''Twas right a goblet the Fate should be
Of the joyous race of Edenhall!
Deep draughts drink we right willingly:
And willingly ring, with merry call,
Kling! klang! to the Luck of Edenhall!'
First rings it deep, and full, and mild,
Like to the song of a nightingale
Then like the roar of a torrent wild;
Then mutters at last like the thunder's fall,
The glorious Luck of Edenhall.
'For its keeper takes a race of might,
The fragile goblet of crystal tall;
It has lasted longer than is right;
King! klang!--with a harder blow than all
Will I try the Luck of Edenhall!'
As the goblet ringing flies apart,
Suddenly cracks the vaulted hall;
And through the rift, the wild flames start;
The guests in dust are scattered all,
With the breaking Luck of Edenhall!
In storms the foe, with fire and sword;
He in the night had scaled the wall,
Slain by the sword lies the youthful Lord,
But holds in his hand the crystal tall,
The shattered Luck of Edenhall.
On the morrow the butler gropes alone,
The graybeard in the desert hall,
He seeks his Lord's burnt skeleton,
He seeks in the dismal ruin's fall
The shards of the Luck of Edenhall.
'The stone wall,' saith he, 'doth fall aside,
Down must the stately columns fall;
Glass is this earth's Luck and Pride;
In atoms shall fall this earthly ball
One day like the Luck of Edenhall!'
Scheme | ABABB XBXBB CXCBB DBDXBB EBEBB FXFBB DBDBB GBGBB ABABB XBXBB HBHBB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110101 110111 11010101 0110101001 1110111 01010111 010101 111110101 01011101 1110111 11011111 11111100 0101100101 01011101 1110111 11010111 11110101 11110101 1101 11111 111111 110100111 1010111 11111100 010011101 1110111 11110101 110110100 110110101 110111011 0100111 111010111 010101101 111010111 111010111 1110111 101010101 10010101 01010111 01011101 1010111 010111001 10011101 110110101 110110101 010111 1010010101 01000101 11111100 11001011 0110111 011111101 11010101 1111101 010111101 1110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,066 |
Words | 380 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 6, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 146 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 34 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:54 min read
- 81 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Luck of Edenhall. From The German Of Uhland" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18885/the-luck-of-edenhall.--from-the-german-of-uhland>.
Discuss this Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In