Analysis of Baby Charley.
Sidney Lanier 1842 (Macon) – 1881 (Lynn)
He's fast asleep. See how, O Wife,
Night's finger on the lip of life
Bids whist the tongue, so prattle-rife,
Of busy Baby Charley.
One arm stretched backward round his head,
Five little toes from out the bed
Just showing, like five rosebuds red,
-- So slumbers Baby Charley.
Heaven-lights, I know, are beaming through
Those lucent eyelids, veined with blue,
That shut away from mortal view
Large eyes of Baby Charley.
O sweet Sleep-Angel, throned now
On the round glory of his brow,
Wave thy wing and waft my vow
Breathed over Baby Charley.
I vow that my heart, when death is nigh,
Shall never shiver with a sigh
For act of hand or tongue or eye
That wronged my Baby Charley!
Scheme | AAAB CCCB DDDB EEEB FFFB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (30%) |
Metre | 11011111 11010111 11011101 1101010 11110111 11011101 1101111 111010 101111101 1101111 11011101 1111010 1111011 10110111 1110111 1101010 111111111 11010101 11111111 1111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 680 |
Words | 125 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 105 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 38 sec read
- 202 Views
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"Baby Charley." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34743/baby-charley.>.
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