Analysis of The Pumpkin
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)
Oh, greenly and fair in the lands of the sun,
The vines of the gourd and the rich melon run,
And the rock and the tree and the cottage enfold,
With broad leaves all greenness and blossoms all gold,
Like that which o'er Nineveh's prophet once grew,
While he waited to know that his warning was true,
And longed for the storm-cloud, and listened in vain
For the rush of the whirlwind and red fire-rain.
On the banks of the Xenil the dark Spanish maiden
Comes up with the fruit of the tangled vine laden;
And the Creole of Cuba laughs out to behold
Through orange-leaves shining the broad spheres of gold;
Yet with dearer delight from his home in the North,
On the fields of his harvest the Yankee looks forth,
Where crook-necks are coiling and yellow fruit shines,
And the sun of September melts down on his vines.
Ah! on Thanksgiving day, when from East and from West,
From North and from South comes the pilgrim and guest;
When the gray-haired New Englander sees round his board
The old broken links of affection restored;
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before;
What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye,
What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?
Oh, fruit loved of boyhood! the old days recalling,
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling!
When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,
Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!
When we laughed round the corn-heap, with hearts all in tune,
Our chair a broad pumpkin, -- our lantern the moon,
Telling tales of the fairy who travelled like steam
In a pumpkin-shell coach, with two rats for her team!
Then thanks for thy present! none sweeter or better
E'er smoked from an oven or circled a platter!
Fairer hands never wrought at a pastry more fine,
Brighter eyes never watched o'er its baking, than thine!
And the prayer, which my mouth is too full to express,
Swells my heart that thy shadow may never be less,
That the days of thy lot may be lengthened below,
And the fame of thy worth like a pumpkin-vine grow,
And thy life be as sweet, and its last sunset sky
Golden-tinted and fair as thy own Pumpkin pie!
Scheme | AABBCCDD AABBEEFF GGHHIIJJ KKLLMMNN OOPPQQRRJJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11001001101 01101001101 001001001001 11111001011 1111011011 111011111011 01101101001 10110101101 101101011010 111011010110 001011011101 11011001111 111001111001 101111001011 1111101011 001101011111 11101111011 11011101001 101111001111 01101101001 101101111011 001101101101 1101011001 11101101101 11111011010 11101011010 11101011011 101101101001 111101111101 1010110101001 101101011011 001011111101 111110110110 1011110110010 101101101011 1011011011011 001111111101 11111111011 101111111001 001111101011 01111101111 101001111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 2,142 |
Words | 398 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 10 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 41 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 343 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 79 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 01, 2023
- 2:00 min read
- 129 Views
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"The Pumpkin" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23178/the-pumpkin>.
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