Analysis of To a Lady and Her Children
Phillis Wheatley 1753 (West Africa) – 1784 (Boston)
O'erwhelming sorrow now demands my song:
From death the overwhelming sorrow sprung.
What flowing tears? What hearts with grief opprest?
What sighs on sighs heave the fond parent's breast?
The brother weeps, the hapless sisters join
Th' increasing woe, and swell the crystal brine;
The poor, who once his gen'rous bounty fed,
Droop, and bewail their benefactor dead.
In death the friend, the kind companion lies,
And in one death what various comfort dies!
Th' unhappy mother sees the sanguine rill
Forget to flow, and nature's wheels stand still,
But see from earth his spirit far remov'd,
And know no grief recalls your best-belov'd:
He, upon pinions swifter than the wind,
Has left mortality's sad scenes behind
For joys to this terrestrial state unknown,
And glories richer than the monarch's crown.
Of virtue's steady course the prize behold!
What blissful wonders to his mind unfold!
But of celestial joys I sing in vain:
Attempt not, muse, the too advent'rous strain.
No more in briny show'rs, ye friends around,
Or bathe his clay, or waste them on the ground:
Still do you weep, still wish for his return?
How cruel thus to wish, and thus to mourn?
No more for him the streams of sorrow pour,
But haste to join him on the heav'nly shore,
On harps of gold to tune immortal lays,
And to your God immortal anthems raise.
Scheme | XXAAXXAABBCCAAAAXXA ADD AAXXEEFF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11010111 110010101 110111111 1111101101 0101010101 110101010101 011111101 10111001 0101010101 00111100101 110101010101 0111010111 1111110101 011111101 101110101 1111101 11110100101 010101011 111010101 1101011101 1101011101 01110111 110111101 1111111101 1111111101 1101110111 1111011101 111111011 1111110101 0111010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,309 |
Words | 231 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 19, 3, 8 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 347 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 76 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 28, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 375 Views
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"To a Lady and Her Children" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29383/to-a-lady-and-her-children>.
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