Analysis of A Lost Chord

Adelaide Anne Procter 1825 (Bedford Square) – 1864



SEATED one day at the Organ,
    I was weary and ill at ease,
  And my fingers wandered idly
    Over the noisy keys.

I do not know what I was playing,
    Or what I was dreaming then ;
  But I struck one chord of music,
    Like the sound of a great Amen.

It flooded the crimson twilight,
  Like the close of an Angel's Psalm,
And it lay on my fevered spirit
  With a touch of infinite calm.

It quieted pain and sorrow,
  Like love overcoming strife ;
It seemed the harmonious echo
  From our discordant life.

It linked all perplexéd meanings
  Into one perfect peace,
And trembled away into silence
  As if it were loth to cease.

I have sought, but I seek it vainly,
  That one lost chord divine,
Which came from the soul of the Organ,
  And entered into mine.

It may be that Death's bright angel
  Will speak in that chord again,
It may be that only in Heaven
  I shall hear that grand Amen.


Scheme ABCB XDXD XXXX EFEF XGXG CHAH XDAD
Poetic Form Quatrain  (86%)
Metre 10111010 11100111 01101010 100101 111111110 1111101 11111110 10110101 1100101 1011111 011111010 10111001 11001010 111001 110010010 1100101 11101110 011011 010010110 1110111 111111110 111101 111011010 010011 11111110 1101101 111110010 1111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 880
Words 167
Sentences 8
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 95
Words per stanza (avg) 24
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 20, 2023

50 sec read
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Adelaide Anne Procter

Adelaide Anne Procter was an English poet and philanthropist. more…

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