Analysis of A Song Of Comfort

John McCrae 1872 (Guelph) – 1918 (Boulogne-sur-Mer)



"Sleep, weary ones, while ye may --
         Sleep, oh, sleep!"
                              Eugene Field.

Thro' May time blossoms, with whisper low,
The soft wind sang to the dead below:
 "Think not with regret on the Springtime's song
 And the task ye left while your hands were strong.
 The song would have ceased when the Spring was past,
 And the task that was joyous be weary at last."

To the winter sky when the nights were long
The tree-tops tossed with a ceaseless song:
 "Do ye think with regret on the sunny days
 And the path ye left, with its untrod ways?
 The sun might sink in a storm cloud's frown
 And the path grow rough when the night came down."

In the grey twilight of the autumn eves,
It sighed as it sang through the dying leaves:
 "Ye think with regret that the world was bright,
 That your path was short and your task was light;
 The path, though short, was perhaps the best
 And the toil was sweet, that it led to rest."


Scheme XXX AABBCC BBDDEE FFGGHH
Poetic Form
Metre 1101111 111 011 111101101 011110101 111011011 0011111101 0111110111 001111011011 1010110101 011110101 11110110101 001111111 011100111 0011110111 001110101 1111110101 1110110111 1111101111 011110101 0011111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 936
Words 178
Sentences 8
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 3, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 21
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 172
Words per stanza (avg) 43
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 19, 2023

52 sec read
117

John McCrae

Lieutenant Colonel John Alexander McCrae, MD was a Canadian poet, physician, author, artist and soldier during World War I, and a surgeon during the Second Battle of Ypres, in Belgium. more…

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