Analysis of My Gentle Harp
Thomas Moore 1779 (Dublin) – 1852 (Bromham)
My gentle Harp, once more I waken
The sweetness of thy slumbering strain;
In tears our last farewell was taken,
And now in tears we meet again.
No light of joy hath o'er thee broken,
But, like those harps whose heavenly skill
Of slavery, dark as thine, hath spoken,
Thou hang'st upon the willows still.
And yet, since last thy chord resounded,
An hour of peace and triumph came,
And many an ardent bosom bounded
With hopes -- that now are turn'd to shame.
Yet even then, while Peace was singing
Her halcyon song o'er land and sea,
Though joy and hope to others bringing,
She only brought new tears to thee.
Then, who can ask for notes of pleasure,
My drooping Harp, from chords like thine?
Alas, the lark's gay morning measure
As ill would suit the swan's decline!
Or how shall I, who love, who bless thee,
Invoke thy breath for Freedom's strains,
When even the wreaths in which I dress thee
Are sadly mix'd -- half flowers, half chains?
But come -- if yet thy frame can borrow
One breath of joy, oh, breathe for me,
And show the world, in chains and sorrow,
How sweet thy music still can be;
How gaily, even 'mid gloom surrounding,
Thou yet canst wake at pleasure's thrill --
Like Memnon's broken image sounding,
'Mid desolation tunefull still!
Scheme | AXAXABAB CDCDEFEF GHGHFIFI JFJFEBEB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110111110 010111001 011011110 01011101 1111110110 111111001 1100111110 11101011 0111111 110110101 0101101010 11111111 110111110 0100110101 110111010 11011111 111111110 11011111 010111010 11110101 111111111 01111101 1100101111 110111011 11111111 11111111 010101010 11110111 1101011010 1111111 11101010 101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,253 |
Words | 229 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 240 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 57 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 26, 2023
- 1:11 min read
- 144 Views
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