Analysis of Christmas Carol
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
Ring out, ye bells!
All Nature swells
With gladness at the wondrous story, -
The world was at lorn,
But Christ is born
To change our sadness into glory.
Sing, earthlings, sing!
To-night a King
Hath come from heaven's high throne to bless us.
The outstretched hand
O'er all the land
Is raised in pity to caress us.
Come at His call;
Be joyful all;
Away with mourning and with sadness!
The heavenly choir
With holy fire
Their voices raise in songs of gladness.
The darkness breaks
And Dawn awakes,
Her cheeks suffused with youthful blushes.
The rocks and stones
In holy tones
Are singing sweeter than the thrushes.
Then why should we
In silence be,
When Nature lends her voice to praises;
When heaven and earth
Proclaim the truth
Of Him for whom that lone star blazes?
No, be not still,
But with a will
Strike all your harps and set them ringing;
On hill and heath
Let every breath
Throw all its power into singing!
Scheme | AABCCB DDEFFE GGEHHA XAIJJI BBIXXX KKDXXD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111 1101 11101010 01111 1111 1110100110 1101 1101 1111011111 0011 10101 110101011 1111 1101 011100110 010010 11010 11010111 0101 011 010111010 0101 0101 110101010 1111 0101 110101110 11001 0101 111111110 1111 1101 111101110 1101 11001 111100110 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 891 |
Words | 169 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 20 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 120 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 28 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 173 Views
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"Christmas Carol" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28680/christmas-carol>.
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