Analysis of Leonainie
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
Leonainie--Angels named her;
And they took the light
Of the laughing stars and framed her
In a smile of white;
And they made her hair of gloomy
Midnight, and her eyes of bloomy
Moonshine, and they brought her to me
In the solemn night.--
In a solemn night of summer,
When my heart of gloom
Blossomed up to greet the comer
Like a rose in bloom;
All forebodings that distressed me
I forgot as Joy caressed me--
(LYING Joy! that caught and pressed me
In the arms of doom!)
Only spake the little lisper
In the Angel-tongue;
Yet I, listening, heard her whisper,--
'Songs are only sung
Here below that they may grieve you--
Tales but told you to deceive you,--
So must Leonainie leave you
While her love is young.'
Then God smiled and it was morning.
Matchless and supreme
Heaven's glory seemed adorning
Earth with its esteem:
Every heart but mine seemed gifted
With the voice of prayer, and lifted
Where my Leonainie drifted
From me like a dream.
Scheme | ABABCCCB ADADCCCD AEAEFFFE GHGHIIIH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010 01101 10101010 00111 01101110 100111 1011011 00101 00101110 11111 10111010 10101 111011 10111011 10111011 00111 1010101 00101 111001010 11101 10111111 11111011 11111 10111 11101110 1001 10101010 11101 100111110 10111010 11110 11101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 918 |
Words | 178 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 184 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 43 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 30, 2023
- 53 sec read
- 69 Views
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"Leonainie" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20950/leonainie>.
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