Analysis of On A Palmetto
Sidney Lanier 1842 (Macon) – 1881 (Lynn)
Through all that year-scarred agony of height,
Unblest of bough or bloom, to where expands
His wandy circlet with his bladed bands
Dividing every wind, or loud or light,
To termless hymns of love and old despite,
Yon tall palmetto in the twilight stands,
Bare Dante of these purgatorial sands
That glimmer marginal to the monstrous night.
Comes him a Southwind from the scented vine,
It breathes of Beatrice through all his blades,
North, East or West, Guelph-wind or Ghibelline,
'Tis shredded into music down the shades;
All sea-breaths, land-breaths, systol, diastol,
Sway, minstrels of that grief-melodious Soul.
Scheme | ABBAABBACDCDEE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111110011 111111101 11111101 01010011111 111110101 110100011 1101111 11010010101 110110101 1111001111 11111111 1100110101 1111111 11011101001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 610 |
Words | 100 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 493 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 98 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 30 sec read
- 116 Views
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"On A Palmetto" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34768/on-a-palmetto>.
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