Analysis of Our Guardian Angels and Their Children
Vachel Lindsay 1879 (Springfield) – 1931 (Springfield)
Where a river roars in rapids
And doves in maples fret,
Where peace has decked the pastures
Our guardian angels met.
Long they had sought each other
In God's mysterious name,
Had climbed the solemn chaos tides
Alone, with hope aflame:
Amid the demon deeps had wound
By many a fearful way.
As they beheld each other
Their shout made glad the day.
No need of purse delayed them,
No hand of friend or kin —
Nor menace of the bell and book,
Nor fear of mortal sin.
You did not speak, my girl,
At this, our parting hour.
Long we held each other
And watched their deeds of power.
They made a curious Eden.
We saw that it was good.
We thought with them in unison.
We proudly understood
Their amaranth eternal,
Their roses strange and fair,
The asphodels they scattered
Upon the living air.
They built a house of clouds
With skilled immortal hands.
They entered through the silver doors.
Their wings were wedded brands.
I labored up the valley
To granite mountains free.
You hurried down the river
To Zidon by the sea.
But at their place of meeting
They keep a home and shrine.
Your angel twists a purple flax,
Then weaves a mantle fine.
My angel, her defender
Upstanding, spreads the light
On painted clouds of fancy
And mists that touch the height.
Their sturdy babes speak kindly
And fly and run with joy,
Shepherding the helpless lambs —
A Grecian girl and boy.
These children visit Heaven
Each year and make of worth
All we planned and wrought in youth
And all our tears on earth.
From books our God has written
They sing of high desire.
They turn the leaves in gentleness.
Their wings are folded fire.
Scheme | XAXA BCXC XDBD XEXE XBBB FGFG XHXH XIXI JJBJ XKXK BLJL JMXM FNXN FBXB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (86%) |
Metre | 10101010 010101 1111010 10100101 1111110 0101001 11010101 011101 01010111 1100101 111110 111101 1111011 111111 11010101 111101 111111 11101010 111110 0111110 11010010 111111 11110100 11001 110010 110101 01110 010101 110111 110101 11010101 110101 1101010 110101 1101010 11101 1111110 110101 11010101 110101 1100010 10101 1101110 011101 1101110 010111 1000101 010101 1101010 110111 1110101 0110111 11101110 1111010 11010100 1111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,556 |
Words | 296 |
Sentences | 24 |
Stanzas | 14 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 90 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 21 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:29 min read
- 125 Views
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