Analysis of An Autumn Evening At Murray Bay
Darkly falls the autumn twilight, rustles by the crisp leaf sere,
Sadly wail the lonely night-winds, sweeping sea-ward, chill and drear,
Sullen dash the restless waters ’gainst a bleak and rock-bound shore,
While the sea-birds’ weird voices mingle with their surging roar.
Vainly seeks the eye a flow’ret ’mid the desolation drear,
Or a spray of pleasant verdure which the gloomy scene might cheer;
Nought but frowning crags and boulders, and long sea-weeds, ghastly, dank,
With the mosses and pale lichens, to the wet rocks clinging rank.
See, the fog clouds thickly rolling o’er the landscape far and wide,
Till the tall cliffs look like phantoms, seeking ’mid their shrouds to hide;
On they come, the misty masses of the wreathing vapour white,
Filling hill and mead and valley, blotting earth and heaven from sight.
Silent, mournful, am I standing, gazing from the window pane,
Dimmed and blurred with heavy plashes of the fast descending rain,
While thoughts chiming with the hour my weary brain are passing through,
Till the shadows of the evening on my brow are mirrored too.
Rise, although uncalled, within me, memories of the distant past,
Of the dreams, the hopes, the fancies, that round life sweet sunshine cast;
Whilst the moan of winds and waters, with a strange, mysterious art,
Seem to awaken drear forebodings in the listening gazer’s heart.
Ah! it needs yon pleasant tapers with enlivening, home-like ray,
And the sound of voices sharing, each in turn, in converse gay,
And the flash of fire-light, making happy faces still more glad,
To dispel the mournful thoughts that make the evening hour so sad.
Turning from this lonely musing, wilful nursing of dark care,
I will join the joyous circle of the dear ones gathered there,
Who with smiles will greet my advent, and in that delightful room
Shake aside the dreary shadows of this scene of autumn gloom.
Scheme | AABB AACC DDEE FFGG HHII JJKK LLMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1010101110111 101010111011101 101010101010111 10111101011101 1010101100101 10111011010111 111010100111101 101001101011101 10111010101101 101111101011111 1110101010111 1010101010101011 101011101010101 10111011010101 111101011011101 10110101111101 110101110010101 10101010111111 1011101010101001 11010110010011 1111101010100111 001110101010101 0011101101010111 1010101110101011 10111010110111 111010101011101 11111110010101 10101011111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic octameter |
Characters | 1,873 |
Words | 317 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 53 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 213 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 45 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:35 min read
- 138 Views
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"An Autumn Evening At Murray Bay" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33013/an-autumn-evening-at-murray-bay>.
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