Analysis of A Summer Sunrise

James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)



AFTER LEE O. HARRIS

The master-hand whose pencils trace
This wondrous landscape of the morn,
Is but the sun, whose glowing face
Reflects the rapture and the grace
Of inspiration Heaven-born.

And yet with vision-dazzled eyes,
I see the lotus-lands of old,
Where odorous breezes fall and rise,
And mountains, peering in the skies,
Stand ankle-deep in lakes of gold.

And, spangled with the shine and shade,
I see the rivers raveled out
In strands of silver, slowly fade
In threads of light along the glade
Where truant roses hide and pout.

The tamarind on gleaming sands
Droops drowsily beneath the heat;
And bowed as though aweary, stands
The stately palm, with lazy hands
That fold their shadows round his feet.

And mistily, as through a veil,
I catch the glances of a sea
Of sapphire, dimpled with a gale
Toward Colch's blowing, where the sail
Of Jason's Argo beckons me.

And gazing on and farther yet,
I see the isles enchanted, bright
With fretted spire and parapet,
And gilded mosque and minaret,
That glitter in the crimson light.

But as I gaze, the city's walls
Are keenly smitten with a gleam
Of pallid splendor, that appalls
The fancy as the ruin falls
In ashen embers of a dream.

Yet over all the waking earth
The tears of night are brushed away,
And eyes are lit with love and mirth,
And benisons of richest worth
Go up to bless the new-born day.


Scheme X ABAAB CDCCD EFEEF GHGGH IJIIJ KLKKL MNMMN OPOOP
Poetic Form
Metre 101110 01011101 1101101 11011101 01010001 1010101 01110101 11010111 110010101 01010001 11010111 01010101 11010101 01110101 01110101 11010101 011101 110101 011111 01011101 1111111 011101 11010101 110010101 01110101 11010101 01010101 11010101 1101010 0101001 11000101 11110101 11010101 11010101 01010101 01010101 11010101 01111101 01111101 011101 11110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,323
Words 244
Sentences 10
Stanzas 9
Stanza Lengths 1, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
Lines Amount 41
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 119
Words per stanza (avg) 27
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 21, 2023

1:14 min read
52

James Whitcomb Riley

James Whitcomb Riley was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the "Hoosier Poet" and "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and his children's poetry respectively. more…

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