Analysis of In The South
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
There is a princess in the South
About whose beauty rumors hum
Like honey-bees about the mouth
Of roses dewdrops falter from;
And O her hair is like the fine
Clear amber of a jostled wine
In tropic revels; and her eyes
Are blue as rifts of Paradise.
Such beauty as may none before
Kneel daringly, to kiss the tips
Of fingers such as knights of yore
Had died to lift against their lips:
Such eyes as might the eyes of gold
Of all the stars of night behold
With glittering envy, and so glare
In dazzling splendor of despair.
So, were I but a minstrel, deft
At weaving, with the trembling strings
Of my glad harp, the warp and weft
Of rondels such as rapture sings,--
I'd loop my lyre across my breast,
Nor stay me till my knee found rest
In midnight banks of bud and flower
Beneath my lady's lattice-bower.
And there, drenched with the teary dews,
I'd woo her with such wondrous art
As well might stanch the songs that ooze
Out of the mockbird's breaking heart;
So light, so tender, and so sweet
Should be the words I would repeat,
Her casement, on my gradual sight,
Would blossom as a lily might.
Scheme | ABABCCXX DEDEFFGG XHFHIIJJ KLKLMMNN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010001 01110101 11010101 1101101 01011101 11010101 01010001 1111110 11011101 111101 11011111 11110111 11110111 11011101 110010011 010010101 10110101 110101001 11110101 1111101 11110111 11111111 01111010 011101010 01110101 11011101 11110111 1101101 11110011 11011101 01111001 11010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,072 |
Words | 210 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 215 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 52 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:04 min read
- 102 Views
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"In The South" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20923/in-the-south>.
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