Analysis of At the "J. C."
None ever knew his name,
Honoured, or one of shame,
Highborn or lowly;
Only upon that tree
Two letters, J and C,
Carved by him, mark where he
Lay dying slowly.
Why came he to the West?
Had then the parent nest
Grown so distasteful?
What cause had he to shun
Life, ere ‘twas well begun?
Was he that youngest son,
Of substance wasteful?
Were Fate and he at War?
Was it a pennance, or
Renunciation?
Is it a glad release?
Has he at length found peace,
Now Death hath bid him cease
Peregrination?
Hands white, without a blot,
Told us that he was not
One of “the vulgar.”
What can those cyphers be?
Two only, J and C.
Carved in his agony
Deep in the mulga.
Was there no woman’s face
Whose sunny smile might chase
Clouds from above him?
No bosom white as snow?
No lips to whisper low,
“Why doth he seek to go?
Do I not love him.”
Haunted by flashing charms -
White bosoms, rounded arms,
Lips of fair ladies,
Striving to break some link,
Was ‘t that which made him sink,
Dragged by the curse of drink
Deeper than Hades?
Now, the wind across the grave,
Tuning a sultry stave,
Drearily whistles,
Stirring those branches where
Two silent cyphers stare,
Two letters of a prayer,
God’s Son’s initials.
Scheme | AABBBBB CCDEEED FFEGGGE HHXBBBI JJKLLIK MMNIIIN OOPQQQP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110111 11111 1110 100111 110101 111111 11010 111101 110101 11010 111111 111101 111101 11010 010111 11011 0010 110101 111111 111111 1 110101 111111 11010 111101 110101 101100 1001 11111 110111 11011 110111 111101 111111 11111 101101 11101 11110 101111 1111111 110111 10110 1010101 100101 110 101101 110101 110101 11010 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,228 |
Words | 228 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7 |
Lines Amount | 49 |
Letters per line (avg) | 19 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 130 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:08 min read
- 75 Views
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"At the "J. C."" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/4178/at-the-%22j.-c.%22>.
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