Analysis of Ash-Wednesday
Glitt’ring balls and thoughtless revels
Fill up now each misspent night—
’Tis the reign of pride and folly,
The Carnival is at its height.
Every thought for siren pleasure,
And its sinful, feverish mirth;
Who can find one moment’s leisure
For aught else save things of earth?
But, see, sudden stillness falling
O’er those revels, late so loud,
And a hush comes quickly over
All the maddened giddy crowd,
For a voice from out our churches
Has proclaimed in words that burn:
“Only dust art thou, proud mortal,
And to dust shall thou return!”
And, behold, Religion scatters
Dust and ashes on each brow;
Thus replacing gem and flower
With that lowly symbol now:
On the forehead fair of beauty,
And on manhood’s front of pride,
Rich and poor and spirit weary—
All receive it, side by side.
And the hearts that throbbed so wildly
For vain pleasure’s dreams alone,
For its gilded gauds and follies,
Now at length have calmer grown.
Oh! that voice with heavenly power
Through each restless breast hath thrilled,
And our churches, late so lonely,
Now with contrite hearts are filled.
Fair and lovely are our altars
With their starry tapers bright,
With dim clouds of fragrant incense,
Fair young choristers in white,
And the dying gleam of day-light,
With its blushing crimson glow,
Streaming through the lofty casement
On the kneeling crowd below.
Tis an hour of golden promise
For the hearts that secret burn
With contrite and anxious wishes
To the Father to return;
For a Saviour, full of mercy,
On His altar-throne is there,
Waiting but that they should ask Him,
For response to whispered prayer.
Scheme | ABCBDEDE XFDFXGXG AHDHCICI CJXJDKCK XBXBBLBL XGXGCMXM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101010 1111011 10111010 01001111 100111010 01101001 11111010 1111111 11101010 1110111 00111010 101101 101111010 1010111 10111110 0111101 0010101 1010111 10101010 1110101 10101110 011111 10101010 1011111 00111110 1110101 11101010 1111101 111110010 1110111 010101110 1101111 101011010 1110101 11111001 11101 00101111 1110101 1010101 1010101 111011010 1011101 10101010 1010101 1011110 1110111 10111111 1011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,577 |
Words | 277 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 211 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:23 min read
- 27 Views
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"Ash-Wednesday" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33014/ash-wednesday>.
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