Analysis of Outward Bound

Thomas Bailey Aldrich 1836 (Portsmouth) – 1907 (Boston)



I leave behind me the elm-shadowed square
And carven portals of the silent street,
And wander on with listless, vagrant feet
Through seaward-leading alleys, till the air
Smells of the sea, and straightway then the care
Slips from my heart, and life once more is sweet.
At the lane's ending lie the white-winged fleet.
O restless Fancy, whither wouldst thou fare?
Here are brave pinions that shall take thee far --
Gaunt hulks of Norway; ships of red Ceylon;
Slim-masted lovers of the blue Azores!
'Tis but an instant hence to Zanzibar,
Or to the regions of the Midnight Sun;
Ionian isles are thine, and all the fairy shores!


Scheme ABBAABBACDECFE
Poetic Form
Metre 1101101101 011010101 0101110101 1101010101 110101101 1111011111 1011010111 1101010111 111111111 111111101 1101010101 111101110 110101011 1111010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 632
Words 111
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 492
Words per stanza (avg) 109
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
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Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Thomas Bailey Aldrich was a poet novelist traveler and editor more…

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