Analysis of Naples
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)
INSCRIBED TO ROBERT C. WATERSTON, OF BOSTON.
Fold her, O Father, in Thine arms,
And let her henceforth be
A messenger of love between
Our human hearts and Thee.
I give thee joy!--I know to thee
The dearest spot on earth must be
Where sleeps thy loved one by the summer sea;
Where, near her sweetest poet's tomb,
The land of Virgil gave thee room
To lay thy flower with her perpetual bloom.
I know that when the sky shut down
Behind thee on the gleaming town,
On Baiae's baths and Posilippo's crown;
And, through thy tears, the mocking day
Burned Ischia's mountain lines away,
And Capri melted in its sunny bay;
Through thy great farewell sorrow shot
The sharp pang of a bitter thought
That slaves must tread around that holy spot.
Thou knewest not the land was blest
In giving thy beloved rest,
Holding the fond hope closer to her breast,
That every sweet and saintly grave
Was freedom's prophecy, and gave
The pledge of Heaven to sanctify and save.
That pledge is answered. To thy ear
The unchained city sends its cheer,
And, tuned to joy, the muffled bells of fear
Ring Victor in. The land sits free
And happy by the summer sea,
And Bourbon Naples now is Italy!
She smiles above her broken chain
The languid smile that follows pain,
Stretching her cramped limbs to the sun again.
Oh, joy for all, who hear her call
From gray Camaldoli's convent-wall
And Elmo's towers to freedom's carnival!
A new life breathes among her vines
And olives, like the breath of pines
Blown downward from the breezy Apennines.
Lean, O my friend, to meet that breath,
Rejoice as one who witnesseth
Beauty from ashes rise, and life from death!
Thy sorrow shall no more be pain,
Its tears shall fall in sunlit rain,
Writing the grave with flowers: 'Arisen again!'
Scheme | X ABXB BBB CCC DDD EEE FXF GGG HHH XII BBB JJK LLX MMA NNN JJK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011101100110 10110011 010111 01001101 1010101 11111111 01011111 1111110101 11010101 01110111 111101001001 11110111 01110101 111011 01110101 1110101 0101001101 1111101 01110101 1111011101 1110111 0101011 1001110101 110010101 11010001 01110110001 11110111 0110111 0111010111 11000111 01010101 0101011100 11010101 01011101 1001110101 11111101 111101 0110110100 01110101 01010111 11010101 11111111 011111 1011010111 11011111 1111011 100111001001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,703 |
Words | 317 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 16 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 |
Lines Amount | 47 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 86 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 20 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:37 min read
- 105 Views
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"Naples" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22991/naples>.
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