Analysis of Song of the Pilgrims, The
Rupert Brooke 1887 (Rugby) – 1915 (Aegean Sea)
(Halted around the fire by night, after moon-set, they sing this beneath the trees.)
What light of unremembered skies
Hast thou relumed within our eyes,
Thou whom we seek, whom we shall find? . . .
A certain odour on the wind,
Thy hidden face beyond the west,
These things have called us; on a quest
Older than any road we trod,
More endless than desire. . . .
Far God,
Sigh with thy cruel voice, that fills
The soul with longing for dim hills
And faint horizons! For there come
Grey moments of the antient dumb
Sickness of travel, when no song
Can cheer us; but the way seems long;
And one remembers. . . .
Ah! the beat
Of weary unreturning feet,
And songs of pilgrims unreturning! . . .
The fires we left are always burning
On the old shrines of home. Our kin
Have built them temples, and therein
Pray to the Gods we know; and dwell
In little houses lovable,
Being happy (we remember how!)
And peaceful even to death. . . .
O Thou,
God of all long desirous roaming,
Our hearts are sick of fruitless homing,
And crying after lost desire.
Hearten us onward! as with fire
Consuming dreams of other bliss.
The best Thou givest, giving this
Sufficient thing -- to travel still
Over the plain, beyond the hill,
Unhesitating through the shade,
Amid the silence unafraid,
Till, at some sudden turn, one sees
Against the black and muttering trees
Thine altar, wonderfully white,
Among the Forests of the Night.
Scheme | A BBCCDDEFEGGHHIIXJJIKLLXXMXMKKFFNNOOPPAAQQ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10010101110111110101 11111 11101101 11111111 0101101 11010101 11111101 10110111 1101010 11 11110111 01110111 01010111 1101011 10110111 11110111 01010 101 11011 011101 010111110 101111101 11110001 11011101 01010100 101010101 0101011 11 111101010 1011111010 010101010 101101110 01011101 0111101 01011101 10010101 1101 0101001 11110111 010101001 11010001 01010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,466 |
Words | 247 |
Sentences | 30 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 41 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 541 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 130 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:14 min read
- 49 Views
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"Song of the Pilgrims, The" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33720/song-of-the-pilgrims%2C-the>.
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