Analysis of To The Nightingale, Which The Author Heard Sing On New Year's Day
William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)
Whence it is, that amazed I hear
From yonder withered spray,
This foremost morn of all the year,
The melody of May?
And why, since thousands would be proud
Of such a favour shown,
Am I selected from the crowd
To witness it alone?
Sing'st thou, sweet Philomel, to me,
For that I also long
Have practised in the groves like thee,
Though not like thee in song?
Or sing'st thou rather under force
Of some divine command,
Commissioned to presage a course
Of happier days at hand?
Thrice welcome then! for many a long
And joyless year have I,
As thou to-day, put forth my song
Beneath a wintry sky.
But Thee no wintry skies can harm,
Who only need'st to sing,
To make even January charm,
And every season Spring.
Scheme | XAXA BCBC DEDE FGFG EHEH IJIJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 11110111 110101 1111101 010011 01110111 11011 11010101 110101 1111111 111101 1100111 111101 111110101 110101 01011001 1100111 110111001 01111 11111111 010101 11110111 1101111 11101001 0100101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 692 |
Words | 134 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 92 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 41 sec read
- 97 Views
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"To The Nightingale, Which The Author Heard Sing On New Year's Day" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40229/to-the-nightingale%2C-which-the-author-heard-sing-on-new-year%27s-day>.
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