Analysis of A Farm House by the River



I know a little country place
Where still my heart doth linger,
And o'er its fields is every grace
Lined out by memory's finger.
Back from the lane where poplars grew
And aspens quake and quiver,
There stands all bath'd in summer's glow
A farm house by the river.

Its eaves are touched with golden light
So sweetly, softly shining,
And morning glories full and bright
About the doors are twining.
And there endowed with every grace
That nature's hand could giver her,
There lived the angel of the place
In the farm house by the river.

Her eyes were blue, her hair was gold,
Her face was bright and sunny;
The songs that from her bosom rolled
Were sweet as summer's honey.
And I loved her well, that maid divine,
And I prayed the Gracious Giver,
That I some day might call her mine
In the farm house by the river.

Twas not to be - but God knows best.
His will for aye be heeded!
Perhaps amid the angels' bliss,
My little love was needed.
Her spirit from its thralldom torn
Went singing o'er the river,
And that sweet life my heart shall mourn
Forever and forever.

She dies one morn at early light
When all the birds are singing,
And Heaven itself in pure delight
Its bells of joy seemed ringing.
They laid her dust where soon and late
The solemn grasses quiver,
And left alone and desolate
The farm house by the river.


Scheme ababxbxb cdcdabaB efefgbgB xhxhibib cdcdxbxb
Poetic Form Etheree  (30%)
Metre 11010101 1111110 0101111001 111110 1101111 0101010 11110101 0111010 11111101 1101010 01010101 0101110 010111001 11011100 11010101 00111010 01010111 0111010 01110101 0111010 011011101 01101010 11111101 00111010 11111111 1111110 01010101 1101110 0101111 11010010 01111111 0100010 11111101 1101110 010010101 1111110 11011101 0101010 01010100 0111010
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,286
Words 249
Sentences 13
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 40
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 207
Words per stanza (avg) 49
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:16 min read
102

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar was a seminal American poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries Dunbar gained national recognition for his 1896 Lyrics of a Lowly Life one poem in the collection being Ode to Ethiopia more…

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