Analysis of Alexander And Phillip
Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 (Chelsea) – 1838 (Cape Coast)
HE stood by the river's side
A conqueror and a king,
None match'd his step of pride
Amid the armed ring.
And a heavy echo rose from the ground,
As a thousand warriors gather'd round.
And the morning march had been long,
And the noontide sun was high,
And weariness bow'd down the strong,
And heat closed every eye;
And the victor stood by the river's brim
Whose coolness seem'd but made for him.
The cypress spread their gloom
Like a cloak from the noontide beam,
He flung back his dusty plume,
And plunged in the silver stream;
He plunged like the young steed, fierce and wild,
He was borne away like the feeble child.
They took the king to his tent
From the river's fatal banks,
A cry of terror went
Like a storm through the Grecian ranks:
Was this the fruit of their glories won,
Was this the death for AMMON'S son?
Many a leech heard the call,
But each one shrank away;
For heavy upon all
Was the weight of fear that day:
When a thought of treason, a word of death,
Was in each eye, and on each breath.
But one with the royal youth
Had been from his earliest hour,
And he knew that his heart was truth,
And he knew that his hand was power;
He gave what hope his skill might give,
And bade him trust to his faith and live.
ALEXANDER took the cup,
And from beneath his head a scroll,
He drank the liquor up,
And bade PHILLIP read the roll;
And PHILLIP look'd on the page, where shame,
Treason, and poison were named with his name.
An angry flush rose on his brow,
And anger darken'd his eye,
What I have done I would do again now!
If you trust my fidelity.
The king watch'd his face, he felt he might dare
Trust the faith that was written there.
Next day the conqueror rose
From a greater conqueror free;
And again he stood amid those
Who had died his death to see:
He stood there proud of the lesson he gave
That faith and trust were made for the brave.
Scheme | ABABCCDEDEFF GHGHII JKJKLL MNMNOO PQPQXX RSRSTT UEUVWW XVXVYY |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110101 0100001 111111 01011 0010101101 1010100101 00101111 001111 01001101 0111001 0010110101 11011111 010111 1011011 1111101 0100101 111011101 1110110101 1101111 1010101 011101 10110101 110111101 1101111 1001101 111101 110011 1011111 1011100111 10110111 1110101 111110010 01111111 011111110 11111111 011111101 010101 01011101 110101 0110101 010110111 1001001111 11011111 0101011 1111111011 11110100 0111111111 10111101 1101001 10101001 00111011 1111111 1111101011 110101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,811 |
Words | 362 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 54 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 180 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 45 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:52 min read
- 59 Views
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"Alexander And Phillip" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25680/alexander-and-phillip>.
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