Analysis of The Lorelei

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



Yonder we see it from the steamer's deck,
The haunted Mountain of the Lorelei --
The hanging crags sharp-cut against a sky
Clear as a sapphire without flaw or fleck.
'Twas here the Siren lay in wait to wreck
The fisher-lad. At dusk, as he rowed by,
Perchance he heard her tender amorous cry,
And, seeing the wondrous whiteness of her neck,
Perchance would halt, and lean towards the shore;
Then she by that soft magic which she had
Would lure him, and in gossamers of her hair,
Gold upon gold, would wrap him o'er and o'er,
Wrap him, and sing to him, and drive him mad,
Then drag him down to no man knoweth where.


Scheme ABBAABBACDEFDE
Poetic Form
Metre 101111011 010101010 0101110101 11010001111 1101010111 0101111111 01110101001 01001010101 0111010101 1111110111 111001101 101111110010 1101110111 111111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 621
Words 118
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 472
Words per stanza (avg) 116
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
118

Thomas Bailey Aldrich

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

All Thomas Bailey Aldrich poems | Thomas Bailey Aldrich Books

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