Analysis of Sir Thomas Lawrence
Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 (Chelsea) – 1838 (Cape Coast)
DIVINEST art, the stars above
Were fated on thy birth to shine;
Oh, born of beauty and of love,
What early poetry was thine!
The softness of Ionian night
Upon Ionian summer lay,
One planet gave its vesper light,
Enough to guide a lover's way;
And gave the fountain as it played
The semblance of a silvery shower,
And as its waters fell, they made
A music meet for such an hour;
That, and the tones the gentle wind
Won from the leaf, as from a lute,
In natural melody combined,
Now that all ruder sound was mute;
And odours floated on the air,
As many a nymph had just unbound
The wreath that bound their raven hair,
And flung the fragrant tresses round.
Pillowed on violet leaves, which prest
Filled the sweet chamber with their sighs,
Lulled by the lyre's low notes to rest,
A Grecian youth in slumber lies;
And at his side a maiden stands,
The dark hair braided on her brow,
The lute within her slender hands,
But hushed is all its music now.
She would not wake him from his dreams,
Although she has so much to say,
Although the morning's earliest beams
Will see her warrior torn away.
How fond and earnest is the gaze
Upon these sleeping features thrown,
She who yet never dared to raise
Her timid eyes to meet his own.
She bends her lover's rest above,
Thoughtful with gentle hopes and fears,
And that unutterable love
Which never yet spoke but in tears;
She would not that those tears should fall
Upon the cherished sleeper's face,
She turns, and sees upon the wall
Its imaged shade, its perfect grace;
With eager hand she marked each line,
The shadowy brow, the arching head,
Till some creative power divine,
Love's likeness o'er love's shadow spread:
Since then, what passion and what power
Has dwelt upon the painter's art;
How has it soothed the absent hour,
With looks that wear life's loveliest part.
Oh, painter of our English isle,
Whose name is now upon my line,
Who gave to beauty's blush and smile
All that could make them most divine;
The fair Ionian's ancient claim
Was never paid, till paid by thee,
And thou didst honour to her name,
By showing what her sex can be.
Scheme | ABAB CDCDEFEF GHGHIJIJ KLKLMNMN ODODPQPQ AXAXRSRSBT BTFUFU VBVBWXWX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (27%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 110101 01011111 11110011 11010011 010111 011101 11011101 01110101 01010111 0101010010 01110111 010111110 10010101 11011101 010010001 11110111 0110101 110011101 01111101 01010101 11100111 10110111 11011111 01010101 01110101 01110101 01010101 11111101 11111111 1111111 10101001 110100101 11010101 01110101 11110111 01011111 11010101 10110101 0111 11011101 11111111 0101011 11010101 1111011 11011111 010010101 110101001 11010111 111100110 11010101 111101010 1111111 110110101 11110111 1111101 11111101 011101 11011111 0111101 11010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,035 |
Words | 385 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 8, 8, 8, 8, 10, 6, 8 |
Lines Amount | 60 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 204 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 48 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:59 min read
- 135 Views
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"Sir Thomas Lawrence" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25705/sir-thomas-lawrence>.
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