Analysis of Nicholas Nye
Walter de la Mare 1873 (Charlton, London) – 1956 (Twickenham)
Thistle and darnell and dock grew there,
And a bush, in the corner, of may,
On the orchard wall I used to sprawl
In the blazing heat of the day;
Half asleep and half awake,
While the birds went twittering by,
And nobody there my lone to share
But Nicholas Nye.
Nicholas Nye was lean and gray,
Lame of leg and old,
More than a score of donkey's years
He had been since he was foaled;
He munched the thistles, purple and spiked,
Would sometimes stoop and sigh,
And turn to his head, as if he said,
"Poor Nicholas Nye!"
Alone with his shadow he'd drowse in the meadow,
Lazily swinging his tail,
At break of day he used to bray,--
Not much too hearty and hale;
But a wonderful gumption was under his skin,
And a clean calm light in his eye,
And once in a while; he'd smile:--
Would Nicholas Nye.
Seem to be smiling at me, he would,
From his bush in the corner, of may,--
Bony and ownerless, widowed and worn,
Knobble-kneed, lonely and gray;
And over the grass would seem to pass
'Neath the deep dark blue of the sky,
Something much better than words between me
And Nicholas Nye.
But dusk would come in the apple boughs,
The green of the glow-worm shine,
The birds in nest would crouch to rest,
And home I'd trudge to mine;
And there, in the moonlight, dark with dew,
Asking not wherefore nor why,
Would brood like a ghost, and as still as a post,
Old Nicholas Nye.
Scheme | ABXB XCAC BDXDXCXC XEBEXCXC XBXBXCXC XFXFXCXC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (30%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 100010111 001001011 101011111 00101101 1010101 101111 0111111 11001 10011101 11101 1101111 1111111 110101001 101101 011111111 11001 0111111001 1001011 11111111 1111001 101001011011 00111011 0100111 11001 111101111 111001011 10011001 111001 010011111 10111101 1011011011 01001 111100101 0110111 01011111 011111 01001111 101111 11101011101 11001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,368 |
Words | 266 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 173 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 43 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 22, 2023
- 1:20 min read
- 227 Views
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"Nicholas Nye" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/38294/nicholas-nye>.
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