Analysis of The Sea Diver
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
My way is on the bright blue sea,
My sleep upon its rocking tide;
And many an eye has followed me
Where billows clasp the worn seaside.
My plumage bears the crimson blush,
When ocean by the sun is kissed!
When fades the evening's purple flush,
My dark wing cleaves the silver mist.
Full many a fathom down beneath
The bright arch of the splendid deep
My ear has heard the sea-shell breathe
O'er living myriads in their sleep.
They rested by the coral throne,
And by the pearly diadem;
Where the pale sea-grape had o'ergrown
The glorious dwellings made for them.
At night upon my storm-drench'd wing,
I poised above a helmless bark,
And soon I saw the shattered thing
Had passed away and left no mark.
And when the wind and storm were done,
a ship, that had rode out the gale,
Sunk down, without a signal-gun,
And none was left to tell the tale.
I saw the pomp of day depart--
The cloud resign its golden crown,
When to the ocean's beating heart
The sailor's wasted corse went down.
Peace be to those whose graves are made
Beneath the bright and silver sea!
Peace - that their relics there were laid
With no vain pride and pageantry.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD XEXE FGFG HIHI JKJK LMLM NANA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Pantoum Quatrain |
Metre | 11110111 11011101 010111101 1101011 11010101 11010111 11010101 11110101 110010101 01110101 11110111 10101011 11010101 0101010 1011111 010010111 11011111 1101011 01110101 11010111 01010101 01111101 11010101 01111101 11011101 01011101 11010101 01010111 11111111 01010101 11110101 11110100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,109 |
Words | 212 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 111 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:05 min read
- 112 Views
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"The Sea Diver" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18909/the-sea-diver>.
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