Analysis of Above the Battle
Katharine Lee Bates 1859 (Falmouth) – 1929 (Wellesley)
Honor and pity for the smitten field,
The valorous ranks mown down like precious corn,
Whose want must famish love morn after morn,
Till Death, the good physician, shall have healed
The craving and the tearspent eyelids sealed.
Proud be the homes that for each cannon-torn,
Encrimsoned rampart have been left forlorn;
Holy the knells o'er fallen patriots pealed.
But they, above the battle, throng a space
Of starry silences and silver rest.
Commingled ghosts, they press like brothers through
White, dove-winged portals, where one Father's face
Atones their passion, as the ethereal blue
Serenes the fiery glows of east and west.
Scheme | ABBAABBA CDECED |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1001010101 011111101 111111101 1101010111 01000111 1101111101 1111101 100110101001 1101010101 1101000101 0101111101 1111011101 11101001001 1010011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 637 |
Words | 104 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 6 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 254 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 51 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 31 sec read
- 91 Views
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