Analysis of The Procession
Major Henry Livingston Jr. 1748 (Poughkeepsie, Province of New York) – 1828 (Poughkeepsie, New York)
The legislators pass along
A solemn, self-important throng!
Just raised from the common mass,
They feel themselves another class.
--But let them in the sunshine play
For every dog must have his day.
There moves the law's close-wedged band
The scourge and terror of the land!
Pandora's box replete with ills
Not half so baleful as their quills.
The sons of Galen, ghastly crew!
Next pass in horrible review:
Arm'd with each instrument of death
To sap the citadel of Health.
Ten thousand times ten thousand fall
And physic's monster gulps down all.
Bellona's sons, a num'rous train,
now darken all the dusky plain!
--War, their amusement, Death their trade
And the one sin, to be afraid.
They're but another dire disease
The soul from prison to release:
And man forlorn, as well may be
A prey to steel as malady:
Explore he must the mortal road,
The only diff'rence is the mode.
The men in black bring up the rear,
More warm to preach than folks to hear:
Each points to his own fav'rite road
As leading to the blest abode;
Proclaiming loud that all are wrong
Who don't around his banners throng,
Till, all confounded, FAITH retires
And frighten'd CHARITY expires.
Scheme | AABBCC DDXB EEXXFF GGHHXXIIJJ XXJJAAXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0100101 01010101 1110101 11010101 1110011 110011111 1101111 01010101 01010111 11110111 01110101 1101001 11110011 1101011 11011101 0110111 11011 1101011 11010111 00111101 11010101 01110101 01011111 01111100 01110101 0101101 01011101 11111111 1111111 11010101 01011111 11011101 11010101 010100010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,140 |
Words | 205 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 4, 6, 10, 8 |
Lines Amount | 34 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 182 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 41 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:04 min read
- 106 Views
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"The Procession" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/26335/the-procession>.
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