Analysis of The Bridal And The Burial

James Montgomery 1771 (Irvine) – 1854



I saw thee young and beautiful,
I saw thee rich and gay,
In the first blush of womanhood,
Upon thy wedding-day;
The church-bells rang,
And the little children sang:
'Flowers, flowers, kis her feet;
Sweets to the sweet;
The winter's past, the rains are gone--
Bless'd is the bride whom the sun shines on.'

I saw thee poor and desolate,
I saw thee fade away,
In broken-hearted widowhood,
Before thy locks were grey;
The death-bell rang,
And the little children sang:
'Lilies, dress her winding-sheet;
Sweets to the sweet:
The summer's past, the sunshine gone;
Bless'd is the corpse which the rain rains on.'


Scheme xabacCdDef xabacCdDef
Poetic Form Etheree  (40%)
Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 11110100 111101 0011110 011101 0111 0010101 1010101 1101 01010111 110110111 11110100 111101 010101 011101 0111 0010101 1010101 1101 0101011 110110111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 594
Words 108
Sentences 3
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 10, 10
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 232
Words per stanza (avg) 52
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
76

James Montgomery

The Very Reverend James Francis Montgomery was an Anglican priest in the second half of the 19th century He studied for the bar before being ordained after a period of study at Durham University, and was a Curate at Puddletown before Edinburgh incumbencies. more…

All James Montgomery poems | James Montgomery Books

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