Analysis of To An Infant
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 (Ottery St Mary) – 1834 (Highgate)
Ah cease thy tears and sobs, my little life!
I did but snatch away the unclasped knife:
Some safer toy will soon arrest thine eye,
And to quick laughter change this peevish cry!
Poor stumbler on the rocky coast of woe,
Tutored by pain each source of pain to know!
Alike the foodful fruit and scorching fire
Awake thy eager grasp and young desire:
Alike the good, the ill offend thy sight,
And rouse the stormy sense of shrill affright!
Untaught, yet wise! mid all thy brief alarms
Thou closely clingest to thy mother's arms,
Nestling thy little face in that fond breast
Whose anxious heavings lull thee to thy rest!
Man's breathing miniature! thou mak'st me sigh--
A babe art thou -- and such a thing am I!
To anger rapid and as soon appeased,
For trifles mourning and by trifles pleased;
Break friendship's mirror with a tetchy blow,
Yet snatch what coals of fire on pleasure's altar glow!
Oh thou that rearest with celestial aim
The future seraph in my mortal frame,
Thrice holy Faith! whatever thorns I meet
As on I totter with unpractised feet,
Still let me stretch my arms and cling to thee,
Meek nurse of souls through their long infancy!
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGGBB HHCC IIJJKK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111011101 111101011 1101110111 0111011101 111010111 1011111111 0101101010 01110101010 0101010111 010101111 111111101 110111101 1011010111 110111111 11010011111 0111010111 1101001101 1101001101 11101011 111111011101 111110101 010101101 110110111 11110111 1111110111 1111111100 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,127 |
Words | 208 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 16, 4, 6 |
Lines Amount | 26 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 301 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 69 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 239 Views
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