Analysis of On the Grasshopper (From The Greek)
William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)
Happy songster, perch'd above,
On the summit of the grove,
Whom a dewdrop cheers to sing
With the freedom of a king,
From thy perch survey the fields
Where prolific nature yields
Nough that, willingly as she,
Man surrenders not to thee.
For hostility or hate
None thy pleasures can create.
Thee it satisfies to sing
Sweetly the return of spring,
Herald of the genial hours,
Harming neither herbs nor flowers.
Therefore man thy voice attends
Gladly -- thou and he are friends;
Nor thy never-ceasing strains,
Phoebus or the muse disdains
As too simple or too long,
For themselves inspire the song.
Earth-born, bloodless, undecaying,
Ever singing, sporting, playing
What has nature else to show
Godlike in its kind as thou?
Scheme | ABCCDDEEFFCCGGHHIIJJCCKL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101101 1010101 101111 1010101 1110101 1010101 1110011 1010111 1010011 1110101 111011 1000111 10101010 10101110 111101 1010111 1110101 1010101 1110111 1010101 11101 10101010 1110111 101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 705 |
Words | 124 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 24 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 573 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 122 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 54 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"On the Grasshopper (From The Greek)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40053/on-the-grasshopper-%28from-the-greek%29>.
Discuss this William Cowper poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In