Analysis of The Cry of the Dreamer
John Boyle O'Reilly 1844 (Dowth) – 1890 (Boston)
I am tired of planning and toiling
In the crowded hives of men;
Heart-weary of building and spoiling,
And spoiling and building again.
And I long for the dear old river,
Where I dreamed my youth away;
For a dreamer lives forever,
And a toiler dies in a day.
I am sick of the showy seeming
Of a life that is half a lie;
Of the faces lined with scheming
In the throng that hurries by.
From the sleepless thoughts' endeavour,
I would go where the children play;
For a dreamer lives forever,
And a thinker dies in a day.
I can feel no pride, but pity
For the burdens the rich endure;
There is nothing sweet in the city
But the patient lives of the poor.
Oh, the little hands too skillful,
And the child-mind choked with weeds!
The daughter's heart grown willful,
And the father's heart that bleeds!
No, no! from the street's rude bustle,
From the trophies of mart and stage,
I would fly to the woods' low rustle
And the meadows' kindly page.
Let me dream as of old by the river,
And be loved for the dream alway;
For a dreamer lives forever,
And a toiler dies in a day.
Scheme | ababcdCD aeaecdCd fxfxghgh gigicdCD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110110010 0010111 110110010 01001001 011101110 1111101 10101010 0011001 111101010 10111101 10101110 0011101 10101010 11110101 10101010 00101001 11111110 10100101 111010010 10101101 10101110 0011111 0101110 0010111 11101110 10101101 111101110 001101 1111111010 0111011 10101010 0011001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,042 |
Words | 207 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 206 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 51 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 123 Views
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"The Cry of the Dreamer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22048/the-cry-of-the-dreamer>.
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