Analysis of Resurrection
Sidney Lanier 1842 (Macon) – 1881 (Lynn)
Sometimes in morning sunlights by the river
Where in the early fall long grasses wave,
Light winds from over the moorland sink and shiver
And sigh as if just blown across a grave.
And then I pause and listen to this sighing.
I look with strange eyes on the well-known stream.
I hear wild birth-cries uttered by the dying.
I know men waking who appear to dream.
Then from the water-lilies slow uprises
The still vast face of all the life I know,
Changed now, and full of wonders and surprises,
With fire in eyes that once were glazed with snow.
Fair now the brows old Pain had erewhile wrinkled,
And peace and strength about the calm mouth dwell.
Clean of the ashes that Repentance sprinkled,
The meek head poises like a flower-bell.
All the old scars of wanton wars are vanished;
And what blue bruises grappling Sense had left
And sad remains of redder stains are banished,
And the dim blotch of heart-committed theft.
O still vast vision of transfigured features
Unvisited by secret crimes or dooms,
Remain, remain amid these water-creatures,
Stand, shine among yon water-lily blooms.
For eighteen centuries ripple down the river,
And windy times the stalks of empires wave,
-- Let the winds come from the moor and sigh and shiver,
Fain, fain am I, O Christ, to pass the grave.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ EEEE ABAB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 0101011010 1001011101 11110011010 0111110101 01110101110 1111110111 11111101010 1111010111 110101011 0111110111 11011100010 11001110111 1101111110 0101010111 11010101010 011110101 10111101110 0111010111 01011101110 0011110101 111101110 1110111 01010111010 1101110101 101100101010 01010111001 101110101010 1111111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,273 |
Words | 228 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 145 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 08, 2023
- 1:08 min read
- 80 Views
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"Resurrection" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34775/resurrection>.
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