Analysis of Astræ
Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803 (Boston) – 1882 (Concord)
Himself it was who wrote
His rank, and quartered his own coat.
There is no king nor sovereign state
That can fix a hero's rate;
Each to all is venerable,
Cap-a-pie invulnerable,
Until he write, where all eyes rest,
Slave or master on his breast.
I saw men go up and down
In the country and the town,
With this prayer upon their neck,
"Judgment and a judge we seek."
Not to monarchs they repair,
Nor to learned jurist's chair,
But they hurry to their peers,
To their kinsfolk and their dears,
Louder than with speech they pray,
What am I? companion; say.
And the friend not hesitates
To assign just place and mates,
Answers not in word or letter,
Yet is understood the better;—
Is to his friend a looking-glass,
Reflects his figure that doth pass.
Every wayfarer he meets
What himself declared, repeats;
What himself confessed, records;
Sentences him in his words,
The form is his own corporal form,
And his thought the penal worm.
Yet shine for ever virgin minds,
Loved by stars and purest winds,
Which, o'er passion throned sedate,
Have not hazarded their state,
Disconcert the searching spy,
Rendering to a curious eye
The durance of a granite ledge
To those who gaze from the sea's edge.
It is there for benefit,
It is there for purging light,
There for purifying storms,
And its depths reflect all forms;
It cannot parley with the mean,
Pure by impure is not seen.
For there's no sequestered grot,
Lone mountain tam, or isle forgot,
But justice journeying in the sphere
Daily stoops to harbor there.
Scheme | AABBCCDD EEXXFFGGHHIIJJKKLLXXXX XXBBMMNNXXOOPPAXXF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011111 1101111 11111101 1110101 11111000 10101000 01111111 1110111 1111101 0010001 1110111 1000111 111101 11111 1110111 111011 1011111 1110101 001110 1011101 10101110 1101010 11110101 01110111 100111 1010101 1010101 1001011 011111001 0110101 11110101 1110101 11010101 11111 010101 100101001 0110101 11111011 1111100 1111101 111001 0110111 11010101 1101111 1110101 11011101 110100001 1011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,466 |
Words | 271 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 22, 18 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 393 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 89 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:22 min read
- 120 Views
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"Astræ" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29785/astr%C3%A6>.
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