Analysis of The Red-Tressed Maiden
Roderic Quinn 1867 (Surry Hills, New South Wales) – 1949 (Darlinghurst, New South Wales)
RED she is in a robe of sable,
Rosy with pictures and tales to tell:
She is a fairy, and yet no fable,
Weaving the dreams that we love so well.
Out in the dark where the night-winds hurry
And dead leaves carpet the silent bush,
She has a charm for minds that worry,
For the worn white face a fresh young blush.
Tell her a story of some love laid in
The grave long since with a maiden white —
She will not taunt you, the Red-Tressed Maiden
Dressed in her mantle of starless night.
With fingers potent as rich wine chosen
From dusty cellars where years lie dead,
She melts the ice in the veins long frozen,
The blood runs chainless, and young and red.
Her ears have hearkened the joyous laughter,
Man-made, maid-lifted through years and years
To frescoed dome and to smoky rafter,
And tears and tears and ceaseless tears.
Old as the world, and some say older,
Is she, and yet she is young and sweet:
She heard the story the Cave-man told her,
When hearts were bolder and ruder their beat.
No tale so trifling but she will listen,
The long day ended, the day's toil done;
Then wheresoever her great eyes glisten
An ancient battle is fought and won.
She is ready to hearken to some chance roamer,
A lyre on his shoulder, a lilt on his tongue,
As she was of old to the blind-eyed Homer
Who sang high strains when the world was young.
On winter nights, when the roads are cheerless
And west winds under a frosty moon,
She paints us Summer in colours peerless
And the broad gold charm of a tropic noon.
On summer evenings, in sylvan places
(The picnic over and stars in the skies),
She heightens the blush on sun-kissed faces
And deepens the dream in dear young eyes.
And who is the Maiden? When Night is about you,
Pile high dry leaves and dead wood, and so
Make a light for the darkness within and without you . . .
And now do you see her — and now do you know?
Scheme | ABABCDCEFGHGHIHIJKJLJMJMHHHHCNJNKOPOQRQRSTST |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111001110 101100111 1101001110 100111111 1001101110 011100101 110111110 101110111 1001011110 011110101 1111101110 10010111 1101011110 110101111 1101001110 01110101 011101010 111101101 1101011010 01010101 110101110 110111101 1101001110 1101001011 1111011110 011100111 1101110 110101101 1110111111 01111001111 11111101110 111110111 110110111 011100101 111100110 0011110101 1101001010 011001001 1100111110 010010111 011010111011 111101101 1011010010011 01111001111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,825 |
Words | 356 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 44 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,443 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 357 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:47 min read
- 28 Views
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"The Red-Tressed Maiden" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32970/the-red-tressed-maiden>.
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