Analysis of Lines Written In The Belief That The Ancient Roman Festival Of The Dead Was Called Ambarvalia




Swings the way still by hollow and hill,
 And all the world's a song;
"She's far," it sings me, "but fair," it rings me,
 "Quiet," it laughs, "and strong!"

Oh! spite of the miles and years between us,
 Spite of your chosen part,
I do remember; and I go
 With laughter in my heart.

So above the little folk that know not,
 Out of the white hill-town,
High up I clamber; and I remember;
 And watch the day go down.

Gold is my heart, and the world's golden,
 And one peak tipped with light;
And the air lies still about the hill
 With the first fear of night;

Till mystery down the soundless valley
 Thunders, and dark is here;
And the wind blows, and the light goes,
 And the night is full of fear,

And I know, one night, on some far height,
 In the tongue I never knew,
I yet shall hear the tidings clear
 From them that were friends of you.

They'll call the news from hill to hill,
 Dark and uncomforted,
Earth and sky and the winds; and I
 Shall know that you are dead.

I shall not hear your trentals,
 Nor eat your arval bread;
For the kin of you will surely do
 Their duty by the dead.

Their little dull greasy eyes will water;
 They'll paw you, and gulp afresh.
They'll sniffle and weep, and their thoughts will creep
 Like flies on the cold flesh.

They will put pence on your grey eyes,
 Bind up your fallen chin,
And lay you straight, the fools that loved you
 Because they were your kin.

They will praise all the bad about you,
 And hush the good away,
And wonder how they'll do without you,
 And then they'll go away.

But quieter than one sleeping,
 And stranger than of old,
You will not stir for weeping,
 You will not mind the cold;

But through the night the lips will laugh not,
 The hands will be in place,
And at length the hair be lying still
 About the quiet face.

With snuffle and sniff and handkerchief,
 And dim and decorous mirth,
With ham and sherry, they'll meet to bury
 The lordliest lass of earth.

The little dead hearts will tramp ungrieving
 Behind lone-riding you,
The heart so high, the heart so living,
 Heart that they never knew.

I shall not hear your trentals,
 Nor eat your arval bread,
Nor with smug breath tell lies of death
 To the unanswering dead.

With snuffle and sniff and handkerchief,
 The folk who loved you not
Will bury you, and go wondering
 Back home.  And you will rot.

But laughing and half-way up to heaven,
 With wind and hill and star,
I yet shall keep, before I sleep,
 Your Ambarvalia.


Scheme abcb dexe fghg ijaj cxxk jlkl aexm DMlm hnon xplp lqlq rsrs ftat Uvcv blrl DMxm Ufrf ixoa
Poetic Form Quatrain  (89%)
Metre 101111001 010101 1111111111 101101 1110101011 111101 11010011 110011 1010101111 110111 1111001010 010111 111100110 011111 001110101 101111 110010110 100111 00110011 0011111 011111111 0011101 11110101 1110111 11011111 101 10100101 111111 111111 111101 101111101 110101 1101101110 1110101 1100101111 111011 11111111 111101 011101111 011011 111101011 010101 010111011 011101 11001110 010111 1111110 111101 110101111 011101 011011101 010101 11010100 0101001 1101011110 01111 01011111 011101 011101110 111101 111111 111101 11111111 1011 11010100 011111 110101100 110111 1100111110 110101 11110111 11
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 2,377
Words 463
Sentences 19
Stanzas 18
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 72
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 103
Words per stanza (avg) 25
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

2:20 min read
68

Rupert Brooke

Rupert Chawner Brooke was an English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War, especially "The Soldier". more…

All Rupert Brooke poems | Rupert Brooke Books

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    "Lines Written In The Belief That The Ancient Roman Festival Of The Dead Was Called Ambarvalia" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33699/lines-written-in-the-belief-that-the-ancient-roman-festival-of-the-dead-was-called-ambarvalia>.

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