Analysis of The Dreamer on the Sea-shore
Louisa Stuart Costello 1799 – 1870
What are the dreams of him who may sleep
Where the solemn voice of the troubled deep
Steals on the wind with a sullen roar,
And the waters foam along the shore?
Who shelter'd lies in some calm retreat,
And hears the music of waves at his feet?
He sees not the sail that passes on
O'er the sunny fields of the sea, alone,
The farthest point that gleams on the sight,
A vanishing speck of glittering light.
He sees not the spray that, spreading wide,
Throws its lines of snow on the dark green tide;
Or the billows rushing with crests of foam
As they strove which first should reach their home—
Their home! What home has the restless main,
Which only arrives to return again,
Like the wand'rer she bears on her stormy breast,
Who seeks in vain for a place of rest.
Lo! His visions bear him along
To rocks that have heard the mermaid's song:
Or, borne on the surface of some dark surge,
Unharm'd he lies, while they onward urge
Their rapid course, and waft him away
To islands half hid 'midst the shadowy spray,
Where trees wave their boughs in the perfum'd gale,
And bid the wave-borne stranger hail;
Where birds are flitting like gems in the sun,
And streams over emerald meadows run,
That whisper in melody as they glide
To the flowers that blush along their side.
Sorrow ne'er came to that blissful shore,
For no mortal has entered that isle before:
There the Halcyon waits on the sparkling strand
Till the bark of her lover the Nautilus land;
She spreads her purple wings to the air,
And she sees his fragile vessel there—
She sees him float on the summer sea,
Where no breath but the sigh of his love may be.
The dreamer leaps towards that smiling shore—
When, lo! the vision is there no more!
Its trees, its flowers, its birds are gone—
A waste of waters is spread alone.
Plunged in the tide, he struggles amain—
High they pour, and he strives in vain:
He sinks—the billows close over his head,
He shrieks—'tis over—the dream is fled;
Secure he lies in his calm retreat,
And the idle waters still rave at his feet.
Scheme | A A B B C C D E F F G G H H I X J J K K L L M M N N O O G G B B P P Q Q R R B B X E D I S S C C |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110111111 1010110101 110110101 001010101 110101101 0101011111 111011101 10010110101 010111101 0100111001 111011101 1111110111 1010101111 111111111 111110101 1100110101 1011110101 110110111 11101101 11111011 1110101111 011111101 110101101 11011101001 1111100011 01011101 1111011001 01101011 1100100111 1010110111 101111101 11101101101 10100110101 101101001001 110101101 011110101 111110101 11110111111 0101011101 110101111 111101111 011101101 10011101 11101101 1101011011 111100111 011101101 00101011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,042 |
Words | 377 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 48 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 33 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 8 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:55 min read
- 116 Views
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"The Dreamer on the Sea-shore" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/26117/the-dreamer-on-the-sea-shore>.
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