Analysis of A Song Of The Sea.

Robert Crawford 1959 (Bellshill)



Here within the half-light 'tween the night and day
Upon the sands I lie, with thoughts that idly stirr'd
Seem, as in a dream, with life and death to play,
As o'er the sea there flits a pale white bird.
In my heart I hear it, the murmur of the sea,
Ah! and memories of other lives are stirr'd,
As somewise there came a mystic voice to me
As o'er the sea there flits a pale white bird.
Who but knows that in me is a ghost that hears
A voice it heard of old in the primeval word —
A memory so dim, it like a dream appears
As o'er the sea there flits a pale white bird!


Scheme abaBcbcBdbeB
Poetic Form
Metre 10101110101 010111111101 11001110111 11001110111 011111010101 10100110111 1111010111 11001110111 11110110111 011111000101 010011110101 11001110111
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 565
Words 121
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 12
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 428
Words per stanza (avg) 119
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
93

Robert Crawford

Robert Crawford FRSE FBA is a Scottish poet, scholar and critic. He is currently Professor of English at the University of St Andrews.  more…

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