Analysis of The Child's Music Lesson
Archibald Lampman 1861 (Upper Canada) – 1899 (Ottawa, Canada)
Why weep ye in your innocent toil at all?
Sweet little hands, why halt and tremble so?
Full many a wrong note falls, but let it fall!
Each note to me is like a golden glow;
Each broken cadence like a mourning call;
Nay, clear and smooth I would not have you go,
Soft little hands, upon the curtained threshold set
Of this long life of labour, and unrestful fret.
Soft sunlight flickers on the checkered green:
Warm winds are stirring round my dreaming seat:
Among the yellow pumpkin blooms, that lean
Their crumpled rims beneath the heavy heat,
The striped bees in lazy labour glean
From bell to bell with golden-feathered feet;
Yet even here the voices of hard life go by;
Outside, the city strains with its eternal cry.
Here, as I sit-the sunlight on my face,
And shadows of green leaves upon mine eyes-
My heart, a garden in a hidden place,
Is full of folded buds of memories.
Stray hither then with all your old time grace,
Child-voices, trembling from the uncertain keys;
Play on, ye little fingers, touch the settled gloom,
And quickly, one by one, my waiting buds will bloom.
Ah me, I may not set my feet again
In any part of that old garden dear,
Or pluck one widening blossom, for my pain;
But only at the wicket gaze I hear:
Old scents creep into mine inactive brain,
Smooth scents of things, I may not come anear;
I see, far off, old beaten pathways they adorn;
I cannot feel with hands the blossom of the thorn.
Toil on, sweet hands; once more I see the child;
The little child, that was myself, appears,
And all the old time beauties, undefiled,
Shine back to me across the opening years,
Quick griefs, that made the tender bosom wild,
Short blinding gusts, that died in passionate tears,
Sweet life, with all its change, that now so happy seems,
With all its child-heart glories, and untutored dreams.
Play on into the golden sunshine so,
Sweeter than all great artists' labouring:
I too was like you once, an age ago:
God keep you, dimpled fingers, for you bring
Quiet gliding ghosts to me of joy and woe,
No certain things at all that thrill or sting,
But only sounds and scents and savours of things bright,
No joy or aching pain; but only dim delight.
Scheme | ABABABCC DEDEDEFF GXGHGHII XJKXKJLL MNCNMXOO BPBPBPQQ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11101100111 1101110101 11001111111 1111110101 1101010101 1101111111 1101010111 111111011 111010101 1111011101 0101010111 1101010101 01101011 1111110101 110101011111 110101110101 111101111 011110111 1101000101 1111011100 1101111111 110100100101 111101010101 010111110111 1111111101 0101111101 11110010111 1101010111 1110110101 111111111 11111101101 110111010101 1111111101 010111101 01011101 11110101001 1111010101 11011101001 111111111101 1111110011 110101011 10111101 1111111101 1111010111 10101111101 1101111111 11010101111 111101110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,130 |
Words | 400 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 282 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 66 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:00 min read
- 94 Views
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"The Child's Music Lesson" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/3684/the-child%27s-music-lesson>.
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