Analysis of The Bright Medusa
Sir Henry Newbolt 1862 (Bilston, Staffordshire) – 1938 (Kensington, London)
She's the daughter of the breeze,
She's the darling of the seas,
And we call her, if you please, the bright _Medu--sa_;
From beneath her bosom bare
To the snakes among her hair
She's a flash o' golden light, the bright _Medu--sa_.
When the ensign dips above
And the guns are all for love,
She's as gentle as a dove, the bright _Medu--sa_;
But when the shot's in rack
And her forestay flies the Jack,
He's a merry man would slight the bright _Medu--sa_.
When she got the word to go
Up to Monte Video,
There she found the river low, the bright _Medu--sa_;
So she tumbled out her guns
And a hundred of her sons,
And she taught the Dons to fight the bright _Medu--sa_.
When the foeman can be found
With the pluck to cross her ground,
First she walks him round and round, the bright _Medu--sa_;
Then she rakes him fore and aft
Till he's just a jolly raft,
And she grabs him like a kite, the bright _Medu--sa_.
She's the daughter of the breeze,
She's the darling of the seas,
And you'll call her, if you please, the bright _Medu--sa_;
For till England's sun be set--
And it's not for setting yet--
She shall bear her name by right, the bright _Medu--sa_.
Scheme | AAabba ccadda eeaffa ggahha AAaiia |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (23%) |
Metre | 1010101 1010101 01101110111 1010101 1010101 10111010111 1010101 0011111 11101010111 110101 001101 10101110111 1110111 1110100 11101010111 1110101 0010101 01101110111 101111 1011101 11111010111 1111101 1110101 01111010111 1010101 1010101 01101110111 1110111 0111101 11101110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,127 |
Words | 218 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 173 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 43 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:09 min read
- 123 Views
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"The Bright Medusa" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/35157/the-bright-medusa>.
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