Analysis of I am the Reaper

William Ernest Henley 1849 (Gloucester) – 1903 (Woking)



I am the Reaper.  
 All things with heedful hook  
Silent I gather.  
Pale roses touched with the spring,  
Tall corn in summer,          
Fruits rich with autumn, and frail winter blossoms—  
Reaping, still reaping—  
All things with heedful hook  
Timely I gather.  

I am the Sower.         
All the unbodied life  
Runs through my seed-sheet.  
Atom with atom wed,  
Each quickening the other,  
Fall through my hands, ever changing, still changeless.         
Ceaselessly sowing,  
Life, incorruptible life,  
Flows from my seed-sheet.  

Maker and breaker,  
I am the ebb and the flood,         
Here and Hereafter,  
Sped through the tangle and coil  
Of infinite nature,  
Viewless and soundless I fashion all being.  
Taker and giver,         
I am the womb and the grave,  
The Now and the Ever


Scheme aBacadcBa aefxadcef axaxacaxa
Poetic Form
Metre 11010 11111 10110 1101101 11010 11110011010 10110 11111 10110 11010 1011 11111 101101 1100010 1111101011 10010 111 11111 10010 1101001 10010 1101001 110010 101110110 10010 1101001 010010
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 790
Words 124
Sentences 9
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 9, 9, 9
Lines Amount 27
Letters per line (avg) 21
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 188
Words per stanza (avg) 41
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 13, 2023

37 sec read
73

William Ernest Henley

William Ernest Henley was an English poet, critic and editor, best remembered for his 1875 poem "Invictus". more…

All William Ernest Henley poems | William Ernest Henley Books

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