Analysis of Cattle In Summer

James Thomson 1700 (Port Glasgow) – 1748 (London)



Around th' adjoining brook, that purls along
The vocal grove, now fretting o'er a rock,
Now scarcely moving through a reedy pool,
Now starting to a sudden stream, and now
Gently diffused into a limpid plain
A various group the herds and flocks compose.
Rural confusion! on the grassy bank
Some ruminating lie; while others stand
Half circling surface. In the middle droops
The strong laborious ox, of honest front,
Which incomposed he shakes; and from his sides
The troublous insects lashes with his tail,
Returning still. Amid his subjects safe,
Slumbers the monarch swain; his careless arm
Thrown round his head, on downy moss sustain'd;
Here laid his scrip, with wholesome viands fill'd;
There, listening every noise, his watchful dog.
Light fly his slumbers, if perchance a flight
Of angry gadflies fasten on the herd;
The startling scatters from the shallow brook,
In search of lavish stream. Tossing the foam,
They scorn the keeper's voice, and scour the plain,
Through all the bright severity of noon;
While, from their labouring breasts, a hollow moan
Proceeding, runs low-bellowing round the hills.


Scheme ABCDEFGHFIJKLMNOPQRSTEUVW
Poetic Form Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 011101011101 01011101001 1101010101 1101010101 100101011 01001010101 1001010101 1111101 11001000101 01010011101 11110111 01110111 0101011101 10111101 1111110101 111111011 110010011101 111110101 110110101 010110101 0111011001 1101101001 1101010011 111110101 01011100101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,095
Words 183
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 25
Lines Amount 25
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 886
Words per stanza (avg) 181
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

56 sec read
26

James Thomson

James Thomson, who wrote under the pseudonym Bysshe Vanolis, was a Scottish Victorian-era poet famous primarily for the long poem The City of Dreadful Night, an expression of bleak pessimism in a dehumanized, uncaring urban environment. more…

All James Thomson poems | James Thomson Books

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