Analysis of The Dark Stag
Isabella Valancy Crawford 1850 (Dublin) – 1887 (Toronto)
1 A startled stag, the blue-grey Night,
2 Leaps down beyond black pines.
3 Behind--a length of yellow light--
4 The hunter's arrow shines:
5 His moccasins are stained with red,
6 He bends upon his knee,
7 From covering peaks his shafts are sped,
8 The blue mists plume his mighty head,--
9 Well may the swift Night flee!
10 The pale, pale Moon, a snow-white doe,
11 Bounds by his dappled flank:
12 They beat the stars down as they go,
13 Like wood-bells growing rank.
14 The winds lift dewlaps from the ground,
15 Leap from the quaking reeds;
16 Their hoarse bays shake the forests round,
17 With keen cries on the track they bound,--
18 Swift, swift the dark stag speeds!
19 Away! his white doe, far behind,
20 Lies wounded on the plain;
21 Yells at his flank the nimblest wind,
22 His large tears fall in rain;
23 Like lily-pads, small clouds grow white
24 About his darkling way;
25 From his bald nest upon the height
26 The red-eyed eagle sees his flight;
27 He falters, turns, the antlered Night,--
28 The dark stag stands at bay!
29 His feet are in the waves of space;
30 His antlers broad and dun
31 He lowers; he turns his velvet face
32 To front the hunter, Sun;
33 He stamps the lilied clouds, and high
34 His branches fill the west.
35 The lean stork sails across the sky,
36 The shy loon shrieks to see him die,
37 The winds leap at his breast.
38 Roar the rent lakes as thro' the wave
39 Their silver warriors plunge,
40 As vaults from core of crystal cave
41 The strong, fierce muskallunge;
42 Red torches of the sumach glare,
43 Fall's council-fires are lit;
44 The bittern, squaw-like, scolds the air;
45 The wild duck splashes loudly where
46 The rustling rice-spears knit.
47 Shaft after shaft the red Sun speeds:
48 Rent the stag's dappled side,
49 His breast, fanged by the shrill winds, bleeds,
50 He staggers on the tide;
51 He feels the hungry waves of space
52 Rush at him high and blue;
53 Their white spray smites his dusky face,
54 Swifter the Sun's fierce arrows race
55 And pierce his stout heart thro'.
56 His antlers fall; once more he spurns
57 The hoarse hounds of the day;
58 His blood upon the crisp blue burns,
59 Reddens the mounting spray;
60 His branches smite the wave--with cries
61 The loud winds pause and flag--
62 He sinks in space--red glow the skies,
63 The brown earth crimsons as he dies,
64 The strong and dusky stag.
Scheme | ABABCDCCD EFEFGHGGH IJIJAKAAAK LMLMNONNO PQPQRSRRS HTHTLXLLR UKUKVWVVW |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01010111 110111 01011101 010101 11001111 110111 110011111 01111101 110111 01110111 11111 11011111 111101 0111101 110101 11110101 11110111 110111 01111101 110101 1111011 111101 11011111 01111 11110101 01110111 11010101 011111 11100111 110101 110111101 110101 1101101 110101 01110101 01111111 011111 10111101 1101001 11111101 0111 1101011 1101011 0111101 01110101 010111 11010111 10111 11110111 110101 11010111 111101 1111111 10011101 011111 11011111 011101 11010111 10101 11010111 011101 11011101 0111111 01011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,704 |
Words | 455 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 10, 9, 9, 9, 9 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 13 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 260 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 119 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:17 min read
- 152 Views
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"The Dark Stag" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/19929/the-dark-stag>.
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