Analysis of The Sunflower

James Montgomery 1771 (Irvine) – 1854



Eagle of flowers! I see thee stand,
And on the sun's noon-glory gaze:
With eye like his thy lids expand,
And fringe their disk with golden rays;
Though fix'd on earth, in darkness rooted there,
Light is thine element, thy dwelling air,
Thy prospect heaven.

So would mine eagle-soul descry,
Beyond the path where planets run,
The light of immortality,
The splendour of creation's sun;
Though sprung from earth, and hast'ning to the tomb
In hope a flower of paradise to bloom,
I took to heaven.


Scheme ABABCCD CDXDEED
Poetic Form
Metre 101101111 01011101 11111101 01111101 1111010101 1111001101 11010 1111011 01011101 0110100 01111 1111011101 0101011011 11110
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 489
Words 88
Sentences 4
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 7, 7
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 192
Words per stanza (avg) 43
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 12, 2023

27 sec read
170

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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