Analysis of Ode X: To The Muse
Mark Akenside 1721 (Newcastle upon Tyne) – 1770
I.
Queen of my songs, harmonious maid,
Ah why hast thou withdrawn thy aid?
Ah why forsaken thus my breast
With inauspicious damps oppress'd?
Where is the dread prophetic heat,
With which my bosom wont to beat?
Where all the bright mysterious dreams
Of haunted groves and tuneful streams,
That woo'd my genius to divinest themes?
II.
Say, goddess, can the festal board,
Or young Olympia's form ador'd;
Say, can the pomp of promis'd fame
Relume thy faint, thy dying flame?
Or have melodious airs the power
To give one free, poetic hour?
Or, from amid the Elysian train,
The soul of Milton shall i gain,
To win thee back with some celestial strain?
III.
O powerful strain! o sacred soul!
His numbers every sense controul:
And now again my bosom burns;
The Muse, the Muse herself returns.
Such on the banks of Tyne, confess'd,
I hail'd the fair immortal guest,
When first she seal'd me for her own,
Made all her blissful treasures known,
And bade me swear to follow Her alone.
Scheme | ABBCCDDEEE AFFGGHHIII AJJKKCCLLL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (40%) Tetractys (30%) |
Metre | 1 111101001 11110111 11010111 1010101 11010101 11110111 110101001 11010101 11110111 1 1101011 110100101 11011101 1111101 1101001010 111101010 1101011 01110111 1111110101 1 110011101 11010011 01011101 01010101 11011101 11010101 11111101 11010101 0111110001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 951 |
Words | 175 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 10, 10 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 252 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 58 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 54 sec read
- 100 Views
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"Ode X: To The Muse" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/26521/ode-x%3A-to-the-muse>.
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