Analysis of When a people reach the top of a hill,
Stephen Crane 1871 – 1900
When a people reach the top of a hill,
Then does God lean toward them,
Shortens tongues and lengthens arms.
A vision of their dead comes to the weak.
The moon shall not be too old
Before the new battalions rise,
Blue battalions.
The moon shall not be too old
When the children of change shall fall
Before the new battalions,
The blue battalions.
Mistakes and virtues will be trampled deep.
A church and a thief shall fall together.
A sword will come at the bidding of the eyeless,
The God-led, turning only to beckon,
Swinging a creed like a censer
At the head of the new battalions,
Blue battalions.
March the tools of nature's impulse,
Men born of wrong, men born of right,
Men of the new battalions,
The blue battalions.
The clang of swords is Thy wisdom,
The wounded make gestures like Thy Son's;
The feet of mad horses is one part --
Ay, another is the hand of a mother on the brow of a youth.
Then, swift as they charge through a shadow,
The men of the new battalions,
Blue battalions --
God lead them high, God lead them far,
God lead them far, God lead them high,
These new battalions,
The blue battalions.
Scheme | xxxxAxBAxbB xcxxcbBxxbB xbxxxbBxxbB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010101101 1111011 1010101 0101111101 0111111 01010101 1010 0111111 10101111 0101010 01010 0101011101 0100111010 011110101010 0111010110 10011010 101101010 1010 10111010 11111111 1101010 01010 01111110 010110111 011110111 10101011010101101 11111101 01101010 1010 11111111 11111111 11010 01010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,140 |
Words | 210 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 11, 11, 11 |
Lines Amount | 33 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 289 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 69 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 19, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 56 Views
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"When a people reach the top of a hill," Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/35758/when-a-people-reach-the-top-of-a-hill%2C>.
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