Analysis of A Voice From The Dungeon
Anne Brontë 1820 (Thornton, West Yorkshire) – 1849 (Scarborough, North Yorkshire)
I'm buried now; I've done with life;
I've done with hate, revenge and strife;
I've done with joy, and hope and love
And all the bustling world above.
Long have I dwelt forgotten here
In pining woe and dull despair;
This place of solitude and gloom
Must be my dungeon and my tomb.
No hope, no pleasure can I find:
I am grown weary of my mind;
Often in balmy sleep I try
To gain a rest from misery,
And in one hour of calm repose
To find a respite from my woes,
But dreamless sleep is not for me
And I am still in misery.
I dream of liberty, 'tis true,
But then I dream of sorrow too,
Of blood and guilt and horrid woes,
Of tortured friends and happy foes;
I dream about the world, but then
I dream of fiends instead of men;
Each smiling hope so quickly fades
And such a lurid gloom pervades
That world -- that when I wake and see
Those dreary phantoms fade and flee,
Even in my dungeon I can smile,
And taste of joy a little while.
And yet it is not always so;
I dreamt a little while ago
That all was as it used to be:
A fresh free wind passed over me;
It was a pleasant summer's day,
The sun shone forth with cheering ray,
Methought a little lovely child
Looked up into my face and smiled.
My heart was full, I wept for joy,
It was my own, my darling boy;
I clasped him to my breast and he
Kissed me and laughed in childish glee.
Just them I heard in whisper sweet
A well known voice my name repeat.
His father stood before my eyes;
I gazed at him in mute surprise,
I thought he smiled and spoke to me,
But still in silent ecstasy
I gazed at him; I could not speak;
I uttered one long piercing shriek.
Alas! Alas! That cursed scream
Aroused me from my heavenly dream;
I looked around in wild despair,
I called them, but they were not there;
The father and the child are gone,
And I must live and die alone.
Scheme | AABBXCDD EEXF GGFF HHGG IIJJ FFKK LLFF MMNN OOFF PPQQ FFRR SSCCXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011111 11110101 11110101 010100101 11110101 01010101 1111001 11110011 11110111 11110111 10010111 11011100 001101101 11010111 1111111 01110100 11110011 11111101 11010101 11010101 11010111 11110111 11011101 01010101 11111101 11010101 100110111 01110101 0111111 11010101 11111111 01111101 11010101 01111101 1010101 11011101 11111111 11111101 11111101 11010101 11110101 01111101 11010111 11110101 11110111 11010100 11111111 11011101 0101111 011111001 11010101 11111011 01000111 01110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,775 |
Words | 367 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 6 |
Lines Amount | 54 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 116 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 30 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 1:51 min read
- 127 Views
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"A Voice From The Dungeon" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/3131/a-voice-from-the-dungeon>.
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