Analysis of A Recantation
What boots it on the Gods to call?
Since, answered or unheard,
We perish with the Gods and all
Things made--except the Word.
Ere certain Fate had touched a heart
By fifty years made cold,
I judged thee, Lyde, and thy art
O'erblown and over-bold.
But he--but he, of whom bereft
I suffer vacant days--
He on his shield not meanly left
He cherished all thy lays.
Witness the magic coffer stocked
With convoluted runes
Wherein thy very voice was locked
And linked to circling tunes.
Witness thy portrait, smoke-defiled,
That decked his shelter-place.
Life seemed more present, wrote the child,
Beneath thy well-known face.
And when the grudging days restored
Him for a breath to home,
He, with fresh crowds of youth, adored
Thee making mirth in Rome.
Therefore, I humble, join the hosts,
Loyal and loud, who bow
To thee as Queen of Song--and ghosts,
For I remember how
Never more rampant rose the Hall
At thy audacious line
Than when the news came in from Gaul
Thy son had--followed mine.
But thou didst hide it in thy breast
And, capering, took the brunt
Of blaze and blare, and launched the jest
That swept next week the front.
Singer to children! Ours possessed
Sleep before noon--but thee,
Wakeful each midnight for the rest,
No holocaust shall free!
Yet they who use the Word assigned,
To hearten and make whole,
Not less than Gods have served mankind,
Though vultures rend their soul.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH BIXI JKJK LMLM ANAN OPOP OQOQ RSRS |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 11110111 110101 11010101 110101 11011101 110111 1111011 10101 11111101 110101 1111111 110111 10010101 11001 01110111 0111001 1011011 111101 11110101 011111 01010101 110111 11111101 110101 1110101 100111 11111101 110101 10110101 110101 11011011 111101 11111011 01101 11010101 111101 101101001 101111 111101 11011 11110101 110011 11111111 110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,351 |
Words | 245 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 99 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 01, 2023
- 1:13 min read
- 115 Views
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"A Recantation" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33128/a-recantation>.
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