Analysis of Hymn To Woden
William Lisle Bowles 1762 (King's Sutton) – 1850
God of the battle, hear our prayer!
By the lifted falchion's glare;
By the uncouth fane sublime,
Marked with many a Runic rhyme;
By the 'weird sisters' dread,
That, posting through the battle red,
Choose the slain, and with them go
To Valhalla's halls below,
Where the phantom-chiefs prolong
Their echoing feast, a giant throng,
And their dreadful beverage drain
From the skulls of warriors slain:
God of the battle, hear our prayer;
And may we thy banquet share!
Save us, god, from slow disease;
From pains that the brave spirit freeze;
From the burning fever's rage;
From wailings of unhonoured age,
Drawing painful his last breath;
Give us in the battle death!
Let us lift our glittering shield,
And perish, perish in the field!
Now o'er Cumri's hills of snow
To death, or victory, we go;
Hark! the chiefs their cars prepare;
See! they bind their yellow hair;
Frenzy flashes from their eye,
They fly--our foes before them fly!
Woden, in thy empire drear,
Thou the groans of death dost hear,
And welcome to thy dusky hall
Those that for their country fall!
Hail, all hail the godlike train,
That with thee the goblet drain;
Or with many a huge compeer,
Lift, as erst, the shadowy spear!
Whilst Hela's inmost caverns dread
Echo to their giant tread,
And ten thousand thousand shields
Flash lightning o'er the glimmering fields!
Hark! the battle-shouts begin--
Louder sounds the glorious din:
Louder than the ice's roar,
Bursting on the thawing shore;
Or crashing pines that strew the plain,
When the whirlwinds hurl the main!
Riding through the death-field red,
And singling fast the destined dead,
See the fatal sisters fly!
Now my throbbing breast beats high--
Now I urge my panting steed,
Where the foemen thickest bleed.
Soon exulting I shall go,
Woden, to thy halls below;
Or o'er the victims, as they die,
Chaunt the song of Victory!
Scheme | AabbccddeeffAagghhiijjddaakkalmmffanccooppqqffcckkrrddks |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110101101 101011 1011101 1110011 101101 11010101 1010111 11101 1010101 110010101 01101001 10111001 110101101 0111101 1111101 11101101 101011 11111 1010111 1100101 111101001 01010001 1101111 11110011 1011101 1111101 1010111 111010111 1011001 1011111 0101111 1111101 111011 1110101 1110011 11101001 111101 1011101 0110101 1101001001 1010101 10101001 101011 1010101 11011101 101101 1010111 010010101 1010101 1110111 1111101 101101 1010111 111101 110010111 1011100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,798 |
Words | 318 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 56 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,439 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 316 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:38 min read
- 38 Views
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"Hymn To Woden" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40877/hymn-to-woden>.
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