Analysis of I Wish I Was By That Dim Lake
Thomas Moore 1779 (Dublin) – 1852 (Bromham)
I wish I was by that dim Lake,
Where sinful souls their farewell take
Of this vain world, and half-way lie
In death's cold shadow, ere they die.
There, there, far from thee,
Deceitful world, my home should be;
Where, come what might of gloom and pain,
False hope should n'er deceive again.
The lifeless sky, the mournful sound
Of unseen waters falling round;
The dry leaves, quivering o'er my head,
Like man, unquiet even when dead!
These, ay, these shall wean
My soul from life's deluding scene,
And turn each thought, o'ercharged with gloom
Like willows, downward towards the tomb.
As they, who to their couch at night
Would win repose, first quench the light,
So must the hopes, that keep this breast
Awake, be quench'd, ere it can rest.
Cold, cold, this heart must grow,
Unmmoved by either joy or woe,
Like freezing founts, where all that's thrown
Within their current turns to stone.
Scheme | AABBCCXX DDEEFFGG HHIIJJKK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111111 1101111 11110111 0111111 11111 01011111 11111101 111100101 01010101 10110101 0111001011 1111011 11111 11110101 0111111 11100101 11111111 11011101 11011111 01111111 111111 1110111 11011111 01110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 895 |
Words | 158 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 229 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 52 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 49 sec read
- 54 Views
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"I Wish I Was By That Dim Lake" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 16 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/36852/i-wish-i-was-by-that-dim-lake>.
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