Analysis of On The Death Of Mr Aikman

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



Oh, could I draw, my friend, thy genuine mind,
Just as the living forms by thee designed;
Of Raphael's figures none should fairer shine,
Nor Titian's colours longer last than mine.
A mind in wisdom old, in lenience young,
From fervent truth where every virtue sprung;
Where all was real, modest, plain, sincere;
Worth above show, and goodness unsevere.
Viewed round and round, as lucid diamonds throw
Still as you turn them a revolving glow,
So did his mind reflect with secret ray,
In various virtues, Heaven's internal day;
Whether in high discourse it soared sublime,
And sprung impatient o'er the bounds of Time,
Or wandering nature through with raptured eye,
Adored the hand that turned yon azure sky;
Whether to social life he bent his thought,
And the right poise of mingling passions sought
Gay converse blessed; or in the thoughtful grove
Bid the heart open every source of love;
New varying lights still set before your eyes
The just, the good, the social, or the wise.
For such a death who can, who would refuse
The friend a tear, a verse the mournful muse?
Yet pay we just acknowledgment to heaven,
Though snatched so soon, that Aikman e'er was given.
A friend, when dead, is but removed from sight,
Hid in the lustre of eternal light;
Oft with the mind he wonted converse keeps
In the lone walk, or when the body sleeps
Lets in a wandering ray, and all elate
Wings and attracts her to another state;
And, when the parting storms of life are o'er,
May yet rejoin him in a happier shore.
As those we love, decay, we die in part,
String after string is severed from the heart;
Till loosened life at last - but breathing clay,
Without one pang, is gald to fall away.
Unhappy he who latest feels the blow,
Whose eyes have wept o'er every friend laid low,
Dragged lingering on from partial death to death;
And dying, all he can resign is breath.


Scheme AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJKLLMMNNOOPPQQRSTTFFEEUU
Poetic Form
Metre 11111111001 1101011101 111011101 11110111 010101011 11011100101 111110101 10110101 1101110101 1111100101 1111011101 010010100101 1001101101 01010100111 1100101111 0101111101 1011011111 00111100101 1101100101 10110100111 11001110111 0101010101 1101111101 0101010101 11110100110 111111010110 0111110111 1001010101 110111101 0011110101 10010010101 1001010101 01010111110 11011001001 1111011101 1101110101 1101111101 0111111101 0101110101 111110100111 11001110111 0101110111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,823
Words 335
Sentences 9
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 42
Lines Amount 42
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 1,452
Words per stanza (avg) 333
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:42 min read
71

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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