Analysis of The Stream’s Song

Lascelles Abercrombie 1881 (Ashton upon Mersey) – 1938 (London)



Make way, make way,
You thwarting stones;
Room for my play,
Serious ones.

Do you not fear,
O rocks and boulders,
To feel my laughter
On your broad shoulders?

So you not know
My joy at length
Will all wear out
Your solemn strength?

You will not for ever
Cumber my play:
With joy and son
I clear my way.

Your faith of rock
Shall yield to me,
And be carried away
By the song of my glee.

Crumble, crumble,
Voiceless things;
No faith can last
That never sings.

For the last hour
To joy belongs:
The steadfast perish,
But not the songs.

Yet for a while
Thwart me, O boulders;
I need for laugher
Your serious shoulders.

And when my singing
Has razed your quite,
I shall have lost
Half my delight.


Scheme AXAX XBCB XDXD CAXA XEAE XFXF CGXG XBCB XHXH
Poetic Form Quatrain  (89%)
Metre 1111 1101 1111 1001 1111 11010 11110 11110 1111 1111 1111 1101 111110 1011 1101 1111 1111 1111 011001 101111 1010 101 1111 1101 10110 1101 0110 1101 1101 11110 11110 110010 01110 1111 1111 1101
Closest metre Iambic dimeter
Characters 662
Words 135
Sentences 10
Stanzas 9
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 36
Letters per line (avg) 15
Words per line (avg) 4
Letters per stanza (avg) 59
Words per stanza (avg) 15
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

40 sec read
109

Lascelles Abercrombie

Lascelles Abercrombie was a British poet and literary critic, one of the "Dymock poets". more…

All Lascelles Abercrombie poems | Lascelles Abercrombie Books

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