Analysis of On a Dead Child
Robert Seymour Bridges 1844 (Walmer, Kent) – 1930 (Boars Hill, Berkshire)
Perfect little body, without fault or stain on thee,
With promise of strength and manhood full and fair!
Though cold and stark and bare,
The bloom and the charm of life doth awhile remain on thee.
Thy mother's treasure wert thou;—alas! no longer
To visit her heart with wondrous joy; to be
Thy father's pride:—ah, he
Must gather his faith together, and his strength make stronger.
To me, as I move thee now in the last duty,
Dost thou with a turn or gesture anon respond;
Startling my fancy fond
With a chance attitude of the head, a freak of beauty.
Thy hand clasps, as 'twas wont, my finger, and holds it:
But the grasp is the clasp of Death, heartbreaking and stiff;
Yet feels to my hand as if
'Twas still thy will, thy pleasure and trust that enfolds it.
So I lay thee there, thy sunken eyelids closing,—
Go lie thou there in thy coffin, thy last little bed!—
Propping thy wise, sad head,
Thy firm, pale hands across thy chest disposing.
So quiet! doth the change content thee?—Death, whither hath he taken thee?
To a world, do I think, that rights the disaster of this?
The vision of which I miss,
Who weep for the body, and wish but to warm thee and awaken thee?
Ah! little at best can all our hopes avail us
To lift this sorrow, or cheer us, when in the dark,
Unwilling, alone we embark,
And the things we have seen and have known and have heard of, fail us.
Scheme | ABBA CAAC ADDA EFFE GHHG AIIA JKKJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 0110100111111 1101101101 110101 01001111010111 110101101110 11001110111 110111 11011010011110 111111100110 11101110101 101101 1011010101110 111111110011 101101111001 1111111 111111001111 11111110110 1111011011101 101111 11110111010 11010110111011101 10111111001011 0101111 11101001111100101 1101111101011 111101111001 01001101 001111011011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,383 |
Words | 265 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 150 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 37 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 30, 2023
- 1:20 min read
- 53 Views
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