Analysis of St. Alexis, Patron of Beggars
Joyce Kilmer 1886 (New Brunswick) – 1918 (Seringes-et-Nesles)
We who beg for bread as we daily tread
Country lane and city street,
Let us kneel and pray on the broad highway
To the saint with the vagrant feet.
Our altar light is a buttercup bright,
And our shrine is a bank of sod,
But still we share St. Alexis' care,
The Vagabond of God.
They gave him a home in purple Rome
And a princess for his bride,
But he rowed away on his wedding day
Down the Tiber's rushing tide.
And he came to land on the Asian strand
Where the heathen people dwell;
As a beggar he strayed and he preached and prayed
And he saved their souls from hell.
Bowed with years and pain he came back again
To his father's dwelling place.
There was none to see who this tramp might be,
For they knew not his bearded face.
But his father said, "Give him drink and bread
And a couch underneath the stair."
So Alexis crept to his hole and slept.
But he might not linger there.
For when night came down on the seven-hilled town,
And the emperor hurried in,
Saying, "Lo, I hear that a saint is near
Who will cleanse us of our sin,"
Then they looked in vain where the saint had lain,
For his soul had fled afar,
From his fleshly home he had gone to roam
Where the gold-paved highways are.
We who beg for bread as we daily tread
Country lane and city street,
Let us kneel and pray on the broad highway
To the saint with the vagrant feet.
Our altar light is a buttercup bright,
And our shrine is a bank of sod,
But still we share St. Alexis' care,
The Vagabond of God!
Scheme | ABCBDEFE ghchxixi xjxjafxf xkxkxlgl ABCBDEFE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (25%) |
Metre | 1111111101 1010101 111011011 10110101 1010110101 010110111 111110101 010011 111010101 0010111 1110111101 101101 0111110101 1010101 10101101101 0111111 1110111101 1110101 1111111111 11111101 1110111101 0010101 1010111101 1111101 11111101011 00100100 1011110111 11111101 1110110111 1111101 111111111 101111 1111111101 1010101 111011011 10110101 1010110101 010110111 111110101 010011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,461 |
Words | 294 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 227 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 58 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 10, 2023
- 1:28 min read
- 48 Views
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