Analysis of In a Wine Cellar
Victor James Daley 1858 – 1905
SEE how it flashes,
This grape-blood fine!—
Our beards it splashes,
O comrade mine!—
Life dust and ashes
Were, wanting wine.
Amontillado
Fires heart and eyes;
Champagne the shadow
Of care defies;
An El Dorado
In Rhine-wine lies;
Port has the mintage
Of generous deeds;
Tokay scorns stintage
And richly bleeds;
But this great vintage
The Wine-March leads.
Yet it is wanting
In poesy;
No legends haunting
Its vassals be,
No tales enchanting
Of chivalry.
Spain’s grape hath stories;
Its blood the bold
Conquistadores
Drank deep of old—
A wine of glories,
A wine of gold.
Who drinks not sparing,
Beholdeth he
The great Cid bearing
His banner free,
Columbus daring
The unknown Sea,
And, haply biding,
In this dream-Spain,
Don Quixote riding
Across the plain,
His squire confiding
Beside his rein.
The wine of France is
Aglow to-day
With flash of lances,
With feast and fray,
And dark-eyed glances
Of ladies gay.
See where together,
A flagon near,
Lie hat with feather,
And long rapier—
Fine courting weather,
O Cavalier!
Bright Rhenish, gleaming
Moon-white! Perchance
Thy wave clear beaming
Still guards Romance,
Not dead, but dreaming
In spell-bound trance!
Not in Rhine-water,
But Rhine-wine fair
Sir Rupert sought her
(As bards declare)
The Rhine King’s daughter
With golden hair.
Still ’neath its smiling
Wave’s amber rings,
Men sweetly wiling
From earthly things,
Her song beguiling
The Loreley sings.
Your cup, wild siren,
That Deutschland drains—
Her heart of iron
Moved by your strains—
No blood shall fire in
Australian veins;
Nor yours whose charm is
Your topaz eyne,
Nor yours whose armies
In gold caps shine,
Shall charm or harm us—
Eh, comrade mine?
No vintage alien
For thee or me!
Our fount Castalian
Of poesy
Shall wine Australian,
None other be.
Then place your hand in
This hand of mine,
And while we stand in
Her brave sunshine
Pledge deep our land in
Our land’s own wine.
It has no glamour
Of old romance,
Of war and amour
In Spain or France;
Its poets stammer
As yet, perchance;
But he may wholly
Become a seer
Who quaffs it slowly;
For he shall hear,
Though faintly, lowly,
Yet sweet and clear,
The axes ringing
On mountain sides,
The wool-boats swinging
Down Darling tides,
The drovers singing
Where Clancy rides,
The miners driving,
The stockman’s strife;
All sounds conniving
To tell the rife,
Rich, rude, strong-striving
Australian life.
Once more your hand in
This hand of mine!
And while we stand in
The brave sunshine,
Pledge deep our land in
Our land’s own wine!
Scheme | abcbcbdedede fgfgxg hahihi jdadjd hihihi hkhkhk adalal mnmmmn hohoho mpmpmp hqhqhq rsxsts abjbxb ribari tBTbTB molomo iuiuin hvhvhv hwhwhw tBTbTB |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110 1111 101110 111 11010 0101 1 10101 0101 1101 11010 0111 11010 11001 111 0101 11110 0111 11110 01 11010 1101 11010 1100 11110 1101 1 1111 01110 0111 11110 11 01110 1101 01010 0011 0110 0111 101010 0101 11010 0111 01111 0111 1111 1101 01110 1101 11010 011 11110 01100 11010 101 1110 1101 11110 1101 11110 0111 10110 1111 11010 1101 01110 1101 11110 1101 11010 1101 01010 011 11110 1101 01110 1111 111100 0101 11111 111 11110 0111 11111 111 110100 1111 1011 11 11010 1101 11110 1111 01110 011 111010 10111 11110 1101 1101 0111 11010 1101 11110 0101 11110 1111 11010 1101 01010 1101 01110 1101 0110 1101 01010 011 11010 1101 11110 0101 11110 1111 01110 011 111010 10111 |
Closest metre | Iambic dimeter |
Characters | 2,607 |
Words | 428 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 20 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 126 |
Letters per line (avg) | 16 |
Words per line (avg) | 3 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 98 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 21 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:08 min read
- 111 Views
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"In a Wine Cellar" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/37503/in-a-wine-cellar>.
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