Analysis of Anna
Victor James Daley 1858 – 1905
The pale discrowned stacks of maize,
Like spectres in the sun,
Stand shivering nigh Avonaise,
Where all is dead and gone.
The sere leaves make a music vain,
With melancholy chords;
Like cries from some old battle-plain,
Like clash of phantom swords.
But when the maize was lush and green
With musical green waves,
She went, its plumed ranks between,
Unto the hill of graves.
There you may see sweet flowers set
O'er damsels and o'er dames --
Rose, Ellen, Mary, Margaret --
The sweet old quiet names.
The gravestones show in long array,
Though white or green with moss,
How linked in Life and Death are they --
The Shamrock and the Cross.
The gravestones face the Golden East,
And in the morn they take
The blessing of the Great High Priest,
Before the living wake.
Who was she? Never ask her name,
Her beauty and her grace
Have passed, with her poor little shame,
Into the Silent Place.
In Avonaise, in Avonaise,
Where all is dead and done,
The folk who rest there all their days
Care not for moon or sun.
They care not, when the living pass,
Whether they sigh or smile;
They hear above their graves the grass
That sighs -- "A little while!"
A white stone marks her small green bed
With "Anna" and "Adieu".
Madonna Mary, rest her head
On your dear lap of blue!
Scheme | ABAX CDCD EFEF XGXG HIHI JKJK LMLM ABAB NONO PQPQ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (90%) Etheree (28%) |
Metre | 011111 11001 110011 111101 01110101 11001 11111101 111101 11011101 110011 1111101 100111 11111101 1010101 11010100 011101 0110101 111111 11010111 01001 0110101 000111 01010111 010101 11110101 010001 11101101 010101 0101 111101 01111111 111111 11110101 101111 11011101 110101 01110111 110001 01010101 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,328 |
Words | 235 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 97 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:10 min read
- 38 Views
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"Anna" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/37483/anna>.
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