Analysis of A Sunrise Song.

Sidney Lanier 1842 (Macon) – 1881 (Lynn)



Young palmer sun, that to these shining sands
 Pourest thy pilgrim's tale, discoursing still
Thy silver passages of sacred lands,
 With news of Sepulchre and Dolorous Hill,

Canst thou be he that, yester-sunset warm,
 Purple with Paynim rage and wrack desire,
Dashed ravening out of a dusty lair of Storm,
 Harried the west, and set the world on fire?

Hast thou perchance repented, Saracen Sun?
 Wilt warm the world with peace and dove-desire?
Or wilt thou, ere this very day be done,
 Blaze Saladin still, with unforgiving fire?


Scheme ABAB CDCD EDED
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 1101111101 1110111 1101001101 1111011 11111111 1011101010 1111010111 10010101110 110101011 11011101010 1111110111 110011001010
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 525
Words 90
Sentences 5
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 138
Words per stanza (avg) 29
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

27 sec read
126

Sidney Lanier

Sidney Lanier was a poet, writer, composer, critic, professor of literature at Johns Hopkins and first flutist with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra in Baltiimore. He wrote the Centennial cantata for the opening ceremony of the 1876 Centennial celebration in Philadelphia. more…

All Sidney Lanier poems | Sidney Lanier Books

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