Analysis of Shamrock Song
Katharine Tynan 1861 (Ireland) – 1931
O, the red rose may be fair,
And the lily statelier;
But my shamrock, one in three,
Takes the very heart of me!
Many a lover hath the rose
When june's musk-wind breathes and blows:
And in many a bower is heard
Her sweet praise from bee and bird.
Through the gold hours dreameth she,
In her warm heart passionately,
Her fair face hung languid-wise:
O, her breath of honey and spice!
Like a fair saint virginal
Stands your lily, silver and tall;
Over all the flowers that be
Is my shamrock dear to me.
Shines the lily like the sun,
Crystal-pure, a cold, sweet nun;
With her austere lip she sings
To her heart of heavenly things.
Gazeth through a night of June
To her sister-saint, the moon;
With the stars communeth long
Of the angels and their song.
But when summer died last year
Rose and lily died with her;
Shamrock stayeth every day,
Be the winds or gold or grey.
Irish hills, as grey as the dove,
Know the little plant I love;
Warm and fair it mantles them
Stretching down from throat to hem.
And it laughs o'er many a vale,
Sheltered safe from storm and gale;
Sky and sun and stars thereof
Love the gentle plant I love.
Soft it clothes the ruined floor
Of many an abbey, grey and hoar,
And the still home of the dead
With its green is carpeted.
Roses for an hour of love,
With the joy and pain thereof:
Stand my lilies white to see
All for prayer and purity.
These are white as the harvest moon,
Roses flush like the heart of June;
But my shamrock, brave and gay,
Glads the tired eyes every day.
O, the red rose shineth rare,
And the lily saintly fair;
But my shamrock, one in three,
Takes the inmost heart of me!
Scheme | aaBb ccdd bbxx xxbb eeff gghh xxii jjkk lljj mmxx jjbb ggii aaBb |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (69%) |
Metre | 1011111 00101 111101 1010111 10010101 1111101 001001011 0111101 1011011 00111000 0111101 10111001 1011100 11101001 10101011 111111 1010101 1010111 1001111 10111001 110111 1010101 10111 1010011 1110111 1010110 111001 1011111 10111101 1010111 1011101 1011111 011101001 1011101 101011 1010111 1110101 110110101 0011101 1111100 10111011 101011 1110111 1110100 11110101 10110111 111101 101011001 101111 0010101 111101 101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,580 |
Words | 312 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 52 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 96 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:34 min read
- 46 Views
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"Shamrock Song" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25004/shamrock-song>.
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