Analysis of The Aeolian Harp
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 (Ottery St Mary) – 1834 (Highgate)
My pensive SARA ! thy soft cheek reclined
Thus on mine arm, most soothing sweet it is
To sit beside our Cot, our Cot o'ergrown
With white-flower'd Jasmin, and the broad-leav'd Myrtle,
(Meet emblems they of Innocence and Love !)
And watch the clouds, that late were rich with light,
Slow saddenning round, and mark the star of eve
Serenely brilliant (such should Wisdom be)
Shine opposite ! How exquisite the scents
Snatch'd from yon bean-field ! and the world so hush'd !
The stilly murmur of the distant Sea
Tells us of silence.
[Image] [Image]And that simplest Lute,
Plac'd length-ways in the clasping casement, hark !
How by the desultory breeze caress'd,
Like some coy maid half-yielding to her lover,
It pours such sweet upbraiding, as must needs
Tempt to repeat the wrong ! And now, its strings
Boldlier swept, the long sequacious notes
Over delicious surges sink and rise,
Such a soft floating witchery of sound
As twilight Elfins make, when they at eve
Voyage on gentle gales from Faery-Land,
Where Melodies round honey-dropping flowers,
Footless and wild, like birds of Paradise,
Nor pause, nor perch, hovering on untam'd wing !
O ! the one Life within us and abroad,
Which meets all motion and becomes its soul,
A light in sound, a sound-like power in light,
Rhythm in all thought, and joyance every where--
Methinks, it should have been impossible
Not to love all things in a world so fill'd ;
Where the breeze warbles, and the mute still air
Is Music slumbering on her instrument.
And thus, my Love ! as on the midway slope
Of yonder hill I stretch my limbs at noon,
Whilst thro' my half-clos'd eye-lids I behold
The sunbeams dance, like diamonds, on the main,
And tranquil muse upon tranquility ;
Full many a thought uncall'd and undetain'd,
And many idle flitting phantasies,
Traverse my indolent and passive brain,
As wild and various, as the random gales
That swell and flutter on this subject Lute !
And what if all of animated nature
Be but organic Harps diversly fram'd,
That tremble into thought, as o'er them sweeps
Plastic and vast, one intellectual breeze,
At once the Soul of each, and God of all ?
But thy more serious eye a mild reproof
Darts, O belovéd Woman ! nor such thoughts
Dim and unhallow'd dost thou not reject,
And biddest me walk humbly with my God.
Meek Daughter in the Family of Christ !
Well hast thou said and holily disprais'd
These shapings of the unregenerate mind ;
Bubbles that glitter as they rise and break
On vain Philosophy's aye-babbling spring.
For never guiltless may I speak of him,
The Incomprehensible ! save when with awe
I praise him, and with Faith that inly feels ;
Who with his saving mercies healéd me,
A sinful and most miserable man,
Wilder'd and dark, and gave me to possess
Peace, and this Cot, and thee, heart-honour'd Maid !
Scheme | ABCDEFGHXXHX IXXJXXXXXGXXXKXXFLDXLX XCXCHABCXIJXXXXEXXXXAAXKXXXHCXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1101011101 1111110111 11011011011 111010001110 1101110001 0101110111 111010111 01001011101 1100110001 1111100111 011010101 11110 111101 11100111 110100101 11111101010 11111111 1101010111 110111 1001010101 10110111 11111111 101101111 11001101010 10111110 1111100111 1011011001 1111000111 01010111001 10011011001 111110100 1111100111 1011000111 11010010100 011111011 1101111111 1111111101 011110101 0101010100 110010101 01010101 1011000101 11010010101 1101011011 0111110010 11010111 11001111011 1001101001 1101110111 1111001011 1110110111 10111101 011110111 1100010011 1111011 111011 1011011101 11111001 1101011111 0001001111 111011111 1111010111 0100110001 101011101 101101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,758 |
Words | 476 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 22, 31 |
Lines Amount | 65 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 728 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 164 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:28 min read
- 75 Views
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"The Aeolian Harp" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34333/the-aeolian-harp>.
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