Analysis of The Iron Horse
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
No song is mine of Arab steed--
My courser is of nobler blood,
And cleaner limb and fleeter speed,
And greater strength and hardihood
Than ever cantered wild and free
Across the plains of Araby.
Go search the level desert land
From Sana on to Samarcand--
Wherever Persian prince has been,
Or Dervish, Sheik, or Bedouin,
And I defy you there to point
Me out a steed the half so fine--
From tip of ear to pastern-joint--
As this old iron horse of mine.
You do not know what beauty is--
You do not know what gentleness
His answer is to my caress!--
Why, look upon this gait of his,--
A touch upon his iron rein--
He moves with such a stately grace
The sunlight on his burnished mane
Is barely shaken in its place;
And at a touch he changes pace,
And, gliding backward, stops again.
And talk of mettle--Ah! my friend,
Such passion smolders in his breast
That when awakened it will send
A thrill of rapture wilder than
E'er palpitated heart of man
When flaming at its mightiest.
And there's a fierceness in his ire--
A maddened majesty that leaps
Along his veins in blood of fire,
Until the path his vision sweeps
Spins out behind him like a thread
Unraveled from the reel of time,
As, wheeling on his course sublime,
The earth revolves beneath his tread.
Then stretch away, my gallant steed!
Thy mission is a noble one:
Thou bear'st the father to the son,
And sweet relief to bitter need;
Thou bear'st the stranger to his friends;
Thou bear'st the pilgrim to the shrine,
And back again the prayer he sends
That God will prosper me and mine,--
The star that on thy forehead gleams
Has blossomed in our brightest dreams.
Then speed thee on thy glorious race!
The mother waits thy ringing pace;
The father leans an anxious ear
The thunder of thy hooves to hear;
The lover listens, far away,
To catch thy keen exultant neigh;
And, where thy breathings roll and rise,
The husband strains his eager eyes,
And laugh of wife and baby-glee
Ring out to greet and welcome thee.
Then stretch away! and when at last
The master's hand shall gently check
Thy mighty speed, and hold thee fast,
The world will pat thee on the neck.
Scheme | AXAABX XAXCDEDE FXXFGHGHHX IXIJJXXKXKLMML ACCANENEOO HHPPXXQQBBRSRS |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111101 11011101 0101011 010101 1101101 010111 11010101 110111 01010111 11011100 01011111 11010111 1111111 11110111 11111101 11111100 11011101 11011111 01011101 11110101 0111101 11010011 01011101 01010101 01110111 1101011 11010111 01110101 101000111 11011100 0101011 0110011 011101110 01011101 11011101 01010111 11011101 01010111 11011101 11010101 111010101 01011101 111010111 111010101 01010111 11110101 01111101 110010101 111111001 01011101 01011101 01011111 01010101 11110101 0111101 01011101 01110101 11110101 11010111 01011101 11010111 01111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,057 |
Words | 393 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 8, 10, 14, 10, 14 |
Lines Amount | 62 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 274 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 65 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 29, 2023
- 1:59 min read
- 127 Views
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"The Iron Horse" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/21066/the-iron-horse>.
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